Skip to main content
Key Specialties
Cardiology Diabetology Endocrinology Gastroenterology Geriatrics and Gerontology Gynecology and Obstetrics Hematology Infectious Disease Internal Medicine Nephrology Neurology Oncology Pediatrics Respiratory Medicine Rheumatology Surgery
Congress Coverage
2024 ACC Congress 2023 ESMO Congress 2023 EASD Congress 2023 ERS Congress 2023 ESC Congress
Clinical Collections
Advances in Alzheimer’s

Keynote webinar | Spotlight on medication adherence

LIVE: Thursday 27th June 2024, 18:00-19:30 (CEST)
Join our expert panel to discover why you need to understand the drivers of non-adherence in your patients, and how you can optimize medication adherence in your clinics to drastically improve patient outcomes.
ADVANCED SEARCH
Log in
Top
Quality of Life Research
Published in: Quality of Life Research 12/2016

Open Access 01-12-2016

Objective drivers of subjective well-being in geriatric inpatients: mobility function and level of education are general predictors of self-evaluated health, feeling of loneliness, and severity of depression symptoms

Authors: Barbara Bień, Katarzyna Bień-Barkowska

Published in: Quality of Life Research | Issue 12/2016

Login to get access

Abstract

Purpose

Identification of optimal predictors for different indicators of subjective well-being (SWB) in geriatric inpatients: (1) self-evaluated health status (SEH), (2) feeling of loneliness (FoL), and (3) severity of depression symptoms (SoDS). Investigation of the relationship between response categories of the SWB indicators and their predictors.

Methods

The data were collected retrospectively from hospital records. All 555 geriatric inpatients underwent a comprehensive geriatric assessment, including the Timed Up and Go (TUG) test. The Bayesian information criterion was applied in ordinal logistic regression models to identify optimal predictors of SEH, FoL, and SoDS among different objective factors.

Results

After controlling for high-stress situations in the recent past, motor slowness measured with the TUG test, and a level of education were jointly selected as the best predictors of all three SWB indicators. The speed of performing the TUG test improved SEH (OR = 2.08) and decreased both FoL (OR = 0.41) and SoDS (OR = 0.41). A higher level of education improved SEH (OR = 1.05) and alleviated both FoL (OR = 0.96) and SoDS (OR = 0.92). Additionally, a higher level of SEH was positively correlated with a lower BMI, improved instrumental activities of daily living (I-ADL), and higher hemoglobin level. FoL was reinforced by the level of comorbidity, and SoDS was increased by impaired basic ADL.

Conclusion

Although SWB in geriatric inpatients can be explained by objective comorbidities and disabilities, the good motor function (i.e., a TUG test outcome of less than about 20 s) and a higher level of education were the general predictors that exert an independent beneficial impact on all three SWB indicators.
Footnotes
1
OR is the odds ratio for the ordered logistic regression model.
 
Literature
1.
2.
Diener, E. (2000). Subjective well-being. The science of happiness and a proposal for a national index. American Psychologist, 55(1), 34–43.CrossRefPubMed
3.
4.
Steptoe, A., Deaton, A., & Stone, A. A. (2015). Subjective wellbeing, health, and ageing. Lancet, 385(9968), 640–648.CrossRefPubMed
5.
Fredrickson, B. L., & Joiner, T. (2002). Positive emotions trigger upward spirals toward emotional well-being. Psychological Science, 13(2), 172–175.CrossRefPubMed
6.
Danner, D. D., Snowdon, D. A., & Friesen, W. V. (2001). Positive emotions in early life and longevity: Findings from the nun study. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80(5), 804–813.CrossRefPubMed
7.
Schiffer, A. A., Pelle, A. J., Smith, O. R., Widdershoven, J. W., Hendriks, E. H., & Pedersen, S. S. (2009). Somatic versus cognitive symptoms of depression as predictors of all-cause mortality and health status in chronic heart failure. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 70(12), 1667–1673.CrossRefPubMed
8.
Damen, N. L., Pelle, A. J., Boersma, E., Serruys, P. W., van Domburg, R. T., & Pedersen, S. S. (2013). Reduced positive affect (anhedonia) is independently associated with 7-year mortality in patients treated with percutaneous coronary intervention: Results from the RESEARCH registry. European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, 20(1), 127–134.CrossRefPubMed
9.
Ostir, G. V., Markides, K. S., Peek, M. K., & Goodwin, J. S. (2001). The association between emotional well-being and the incidence of stroke in older adults. Psychosomatic Medicine, 63(2), 210–215.CrossRefPubMed
10.
Pelle, A. J., Pedersen, S. S., Erdman, R. A. M., Kazemier, M., van Spiering, M., Domburg, R. T., et al. (2011). Anhedonia is associated with poor health status and more somatic and cognitive symptoms in patients with coronary artery disease. Quality of Life Research, 20, 643–651.CrossRefPubMed
11.
Wang, Y. C., Lin, F. G., Yu, C. P., Tzeng, Y. M., Liang, C. K., Chang, Y. W., et al. (2012). Depression as a predictor of falls amongst institutionalized elders. Aging & Mental Health, 16(6), 763–770.CrossRef
12.
Karppinen, H., Laakkonen, M.-L., Strandberg, T. E., Tilvis, R. S., & Pitkäla, K. H. (2012). Will-to-live and survival in a 10-year follow-up among older people. Age and Ageing, 41(6), 789–794.CrossRefPubMed
13.
Rius-Ottenheim, N., Krohout, D., van der Mast, R. C., Zitman, F. G., Geleijnse, J. M., & Giltay, E. J. (2012). Dispositional optimism and loneliness in older men. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 27(2), 151–159.CrossRefPubMed
14.
Hazzard, W. R. (1994). Introduction: The practice of geriatric medicine. In W. R. Hazzard, E. L. Bierman, J. P. Blass, W. H. Ettinger Jr., & J. B. Halter (Eds.), Principles of geriatric medicine and gerontology (3rd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill Inc.
15.
Yamada, Y., Merz, L., & Kisvetrova, H. (2015). Quality of life and comorbidity among older home care clients: role of positive attitudes toward aging. Quality of Life Research, 24(7), 1661–1667.CrossRefPubMed
16.
Ford, J., Spallek, M., & Dobson, A. (2008). Self-rated health and a healthy lifestyle are the most important predictors of survival in elderly women. Age and Ageing, 37(2), 194–200.CrossRefPubMed
17.
Innerd, P., Catt, M., Collerton, J., Davies, K., Trenell, M., Kirkwood, T. B. L., et al. (2015). A comparison of subjective and objective measures of physical activity from the Newcastle 85+ study. Age and Ageing, 44(4), 691–694.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
18.
Neufeld, S., Machacova, K., Mossey, J., & Luborsky, M. (2013). Walking ability and its relationship to self-rated health in later life. Clinical Gerontologist, 36(1), 17–32.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
19.
Drageset, J., Eide, G. E., Kirkevold, M., & Ranhoff, A. H. (2012). Emotional loneliness is associated with mortality among mentally intact nursing home residents with and without cancer: A five-year follow-up study. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 22(1–2), 106–114.PubMed
20.
Borowiak, E., & Kostka, T. (2006). Influence of chronic cardiovascular disease and hospitalization due to this disease on quality of life of community-dwelling elderly. Quality of Life Research, 15(7), 1281–1288.CrossRefPubMed
21.
Badano, L. P., Albanese, M. C., De Biaggio, P., Rozbowsky, P., Miani, D., Fresco, C., & Fioretti, P. M. (2004). Prevalence, clinical characteristics, quality of life, and prognosis of patients with congestive heart failure and isolated left ventricular diastolic dysfunction. Journal of the American Society of Echocardiography, 17(3), 253–261.CrossRefPubMed
22.
Rubenstein, L. Z., Wieland, D., & Bernabei, R. (Eds.). (1995). Geriatric assessment technology. Milan: Kurtis.
23.
Saliba, S., Elliott, M., Rubenstein, L. A., Solomon, D. H., et al. (2001). The Vulnerable Elders Survey (VES-13): A tool for identifying vulnerable elders in the community. Journal of the American Geriatric Society, 49(12), 1691–1699.CrossRef
24.
Sheikh, J. I., & Yesavage, J. A. (1986). Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS): Recent evidence and development of a shorter version. Clinical Gerontologist, 5(1–2), 165–172.
25.
Mahoney, F. I., & Barthel, D. (1965). Functional evaluation: The Barthel Index. Maryland State Medical Journal, 14, 61–65.PubMed
26.
Fillenbaum, G. G., & Smyer, M. A. (1981). The development, validity, and reliability of the OARS multidimensional functional assessment questionnaire. Journal of Gerontology, 36(4), 428–434.CrossRefPubMed
27.
Hodkinson, H. M. (1972). Evaluation of a mental test score for assessment of mental impairment in the elderly. Age and Ageing, 1(4), 233–238.CrossRefPubMed
28.
Podsiadlo, D., & Richardson, S. (1991). The timed up & go: A test of basic functional mobility for frail elderly persons. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 39(2), 142–148.CrossRefPubMed
29.
Charlson, M. E., Pompei, P., Ales, K. L., & MacKenzie, C. R. (1987). A new method of classifying prognostic comorbidity in longitudinal studies: Development and validation. Journal of Chronic Diseases, 40(5), 373–383.CrossRefPubMed
30.
Freedman, D. A. (2006). On the so-called “Huber Sandwich Estimator” and “Robust Standard Errors”. The American Statistician, 60(4), 299–302.CrossRef
31.
Cavanaugh, J. E., & Neath, A. A. (1999). Generalizing the derivation of the Schwarz information criterion. Communications in Statistics: Theory and Methods, 28(1), 49–66.CrossRef
32.
Neath, A. A., & Cavanaugh, J. E. (2012). The Bayesian Information Criterion: Background, derivation, and applications. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Computational Statistics, 4(2), 199–203.CrossRef
33.
Brant, R. (1990). Assessing proportionality in the proportional odds model for ordinal logistic regression. Biometrics, 46(4), 1171–1178.CrossRefPubMed
34.
Diener, E., Suh, E. M., Lucas, R. E., & Smith, H. L. (1999). Subjective well-being: Three decades of progress. Psychological Bulletin, 125(2), 276–302.CrossRef
35.
Heikkinen, R. L., & Kauppinen, M. (2004). Depressive symptoms in late life: A 10-year follow-up. Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics, 38(3), 238–250.CrossRef
36.
Yan, L. L., Daviglus, M. L., Liu, K., Pirzada, A., Garside, D. B., Schiffer, L., et al. (2004). BMI and health-related quality of life in adults 65 years and older. Obesity Research, 12(1), 69–76.CrossRefPubMed
37.
Mavaddat, N., Van der Linde, R., Savva, G. M., Brayne, C., & Mant, J. (2013). What determines the self-rated health of older individuals with stroke compared to other older individuals? A cross-sectional analysis of the Medical Research Council Cognitive Function and Aging Study. BMC Geriatrics., 13(85), 1–10.
38.
Caballero, B., Rubio-Gonzàlez, A., Potes, Y., Martínez-Reig, M., Sánchez-Jurado, P. M., Romero, L., et al. (2014). Associations of the antioxidant capacity and hemoglobin levels with functional physical performance of the upper and lower body limbs. Age (Dordr), 36(2), 851–867.CrossRef
39.
Bień, B., Bień-Barkowska, K., Wojskowicz, A., Kasiukiewicz, A., & Wojszel, Z. B. (2015). Prognostic factors of long-term survival in geriatric inpatients. Should we change the recommendations for the oldest people? Journal of Nutrition, Health and Aging, 19(4), 481–488.CrossRefPubMed
40.
Theeke, L. A. (2009). Predictors of loneliness in U.S. adults over age sixty-five. Archives of Psychiatric Nursing, 23(5), 387–396.CrossRefPubMed
41.
Khoo, K. F., Tan, H. J., Rosidom, R., Raymond, A. A., Norlinah, M. I., Shamsul, A., & Nafisah, W. Y. (2013). Prevalence of depression in stroke patients with vascular dementia in University Kebangsaan Malaysia medical center. Medical Journal of Malaysia, 68(2), 105–110.PubMed
42.
Yang, Y., & George, L. K. (2005). Functional disability, disability transitions, and depressive symptoms in late life. Journal of Aging Health, 17(3), 263–292.CrossRefPubMed
43.
44.
Mirowsky, J., & Ross, C. E. (2008). Education and self-rated health. Cumulative advantage and its rising importance. Research in Aging, 30(1), 93–122.CrossRef
45.
Cooper, C., Bebbington, P., King, M., Jenkins, R., Farrell, M., Brugha, T., et al. (2011). Happiness across age groups: Results from the 2007 National Psychiatric Morbidity Survey. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 26(6), 608–614.CrossRefPubMed
46.
Jivraj, S., & Nazroo, J. (2014). Determinants of socioeconomic inequalities in subjective well-being in later life: A cross-country comparison in England and the USA. Quality of Life Research, 23(9), 2545–2558.CrossRefPubMed
47.
Rantakokko, M., Iwarsson, S., Kauppinen, M., Leinonen, R., Heikkinen, E., & Rantanen, T. (2010). Quality of life and barriers in the urban outdoor environment in old age. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 58(11), 2154–2159.CrossRefPubMed
48.
Polku, H., Mikkola, T. M., Portegijs, E., Rantakokko, M., Kokko, K., Kauppinen, M., et al. (2015). Life-space mobility and dimensions of depressive symptoms among community-dwelling older adults. Aging & Mental Health, 19(9), 781–789.CrossRef
49.
Fleminger, S. (1991). Depressive motor retardation. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 6(6), 459–468.CrossRef
50.
Anaby, D., Miller, W. C., Jarus, T., Eng, J. J., & Noreau, L. (2011). Participation and well-being among adults living with chronic conditions. Social Indicators Research, 100(1), 171–183.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
51.
Louis, E. D., & Bennet, D. A. (2007). Mild parkinsonian signs: An overview of an emerging concept. Movement Disorders, 22(12), 1681–1688.CrossRefPubMed
52.
Rosano, C., Bennett, D. A., Newman, A. B., Venkatraman, V., Yaffe, K., Harris, T., et al. (2012). Patterns of focal gray matter atrophy are associated with bradykinesia and gait disturbances in older adults. The Journals of Gerontology: Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, 67(9), 957–962.CrossRefPubMedCentral
53.
54.
Luanaigh, C. O., & Lawlor, B. A. (2008). Loneliness and the health of older people. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 23(12), 1213–1221.CrossRefPubMed
55.
Subramanian, S. V., Huijts, T., & Avendano, M. (2010). Self-rated health assessments in the 2002 World Health Survey: How do they correlate with education?. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 88(2), 131–138.CrossRefPubMed
56.
Jürges, H., Avendano, M., & Mackenbach, J. P. (2008). Are different measures of self-rated health comparable? An assessment in five European countries, European Journal of Epidemiology, 23(12), 773–781.PubMed
57.
Eriksson, I., Undén, A.-L., & Elofsson, S. (2001). Self-rated health. Comparisons between three different measures. Results from a population study. International Journal of Epidemiology, 30(2), 326–333.CrossRefPubMed
Metadata
Title
Objective drivers of subjective well-being in geriatric inpatients: mobility function and level of education are general predictors of self-evaluated health, feeling of loneliness, and severity of depression symptoms
Authors
Barbara Bień
Katarzyna Bień-Barkowska
Publication date
01-12-2016
Publisher
Springer International Publishing
Published in
Quality of Life Research / Issue 12/2016
Print ISSN: 0962-9343
Electronic ISSN: 1573-2649
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-016-1355-x

Other articles of this Issue 12/2016

Quality of Life Research 12/2016 Go to the issue

OriginalPaper

The impact of a belief in life after death on health-state preferences: True difference or artifact?

OriginalPaper

The role of mindfulness in distress and quality of life for men with advanced prostate cancer

OriginalPaper

Stigma as a key determinant of health-related quality of life in Parkinson’s disease

OriginalPaper

Quality-of-life assessment in dementia: the use of DEMQOL and DEMQOL-Proxy total scores

OriginalPaper

Health-related quality of life of among elders in rural China: the effect of widowhood

OriginalPaper

Deriving population norms for the AQoL-6D and AQoL-8D multi-attribute utility instruments from web-based data