Functional assessment and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of elderly patients on the basis of the functional assessment of chronic illness therapy (FACIT)-F questionnaire

Elderly patients represent a significant part of all the patients in various hospital wards. They also suffer from many diseases. Maintenance of their everyday independence, treatment, rehabilitation and improvement of their HRQOL is the main goal of geriatric care in the world, and also in Poland. Performing a comprehensive geriatric assessment for each elderly patient to identify their needs and problems is a standard procedure. The goal of this research was a functional assessment of the influence of social and clinical factors on HRQOL in elderly people. The aim of the study was to assess the influence of social and clinical factors on the functional state and HRQOL in elderly people. The study group was recruited among hospitalized patients in the Department and Clinic of Geriatrics, 64 women and 60 men, for a total of 124 people. The mean age of the study group was 72.1 years. The research was carried out using a diagnostic poll method with the application of FACIT-F questionnaire. The results of FACIT-F for the study group were running at an average level and were dependent on age, marital status, education level and duration of the illness. Correlations were found between the FACIT-F results and the following expectations of the patients: treatment, rehabilitation and information given about treatment, alleviating pain, referral to social care, organizing home care. Results of FACIT-F were dependent on activities of daily living (ADL) scores in the study group. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.