Factors associated with quality of life among elderly in urban Vietnam

Quality of life (QoL) among the elderly is a big problem in Vietnam due to a growing proportion of the elderly in Vietnam while many conditions, including policies, social facilities, culture and other factors are not ready to support for QoL among elderly.
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Factors associated with quality of life among elderly in urban VietnamJOURNAL OF MEDICAL RESEARCHFACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH QUALITY OF LIFEAMONG ELDERLY IN URBAN VIETNAMDao Thi Minh An¹, Vu Toan Thinh¹, Dunne P Michael²¹Institute for Preventive Medicine and Public Health, Hanoi Medical University²School of Public Health, Queensland University of Technology, Australia.Quality of life (QoL) among the elderly is a big problem in Vietnam due to a growing proportion of theelderly in Vietnam while many conditions, including policies, social facilities, culture and other factors are not ready to support for QoL among elderly. This cross-sectional study was conducted toexplore QoL and factors associated with QoL among the elderly in Trung Tu ward, Ha Noi, Viet Nam.The findings showed that the four domains of QoL the among elderly fluctuated around 50. Meanscores of social and psychological QoL were higher than those in the physical and environmentaldomains. A statistically significant difference in mean scores of QoL by socio-demographics was recorded (age profile, educational attainment, and occupation). All four domains of QoL were positivelycorrelated with each other. Furthermore, age, psychological, social and environmental domains collectively contributed to 47.59% of the physical domain; while the physical, social, and environmentaldomains accounted for 56.13% of the psychological domain. We also found that occupation (worker), as well as physical, psychological, and environmental metrics, accounted for 34.19% of the social domain. Moreover, physical, psychological, social domains and occupation (home-wife) collectively accounted for 45.92% of the transformation of environmental domain. Our study suggests thatit is essential to evaluate overall QoL to have a comprehensive view of its effects in the long run.Keywords: Quality of Life, Elderly, Hanoi, WHO QoL-BrefI. INTRODUCTIONVietnam’s population structure is in a period of dramatic change, presenting a number of public health benefits as well as challenges. Today, one of the most prominentissues is how to address a rapidly growingCorresponding author: Vu Toan Thinh, Institute forPreventive Medicine and Public Health, Hanoi MedicalUniversityEmail: vutoanthinhdhy@gmail.comReceived: 05 June 2017Accepted: 16 November 2017114elderly population. Statistics from the LivingStandard Survey of Households in Vietnamshowed that the number of elderly people(defined as men and women aged 60 yearsplus) grew from 3.71 million people in 1979(6.9% of the total population) to 7.72 millionin 2009 (9% of the total population). At thisrate, by 2020, it is estimated Vietnam’s elderly population will be greater than 12 million [1].With this in mind, quality of life (QoL)among the elderly is the most pressing isJMR 111 E2 (2) - 2018JOURNAL OF MEDICAL RESEARCHsue. QoL is a multi-dimensional, highlysubjective concept and, as recommendedby the World Health Organization (WHO),is measured using four major domains, including physical, psychological, social, andenvironmental [2]. Within these categories,QoL has its own characteristics according todifferent economic and socio-cultural levels,producing trend where an overall negativelyasociates with age QoL [3].Within Vietnam’s cultural context ofmultiple generations living together in thesame household, as well as the impact ofurbanization on a rapidly aging population,QoL and mental disorders among the elderly need to be paid more attention. A recent study conducted in 8 provinces on thehealth status of Vietnam’s elderly populationshowed that about 95% of the participantswere infected with at least one disease. Onaverage an elderly person suffers from 2.6diseases. With this in mind, about 23% ofthe elderly people have difficulties in theirdaily life, of which more than 90% need supports from other people [4]. According to thestatistic of the National Institute of Gerontology, 9.2% of the Vietnamese populationsuffer from depression, one third of whichwere elderly and largely retired populationsin major cities [5; 6].This is an important point to understandin an age of rapid urbanization. The proportion of elderly in urban areas is quickly risingand becoming a far more difficult problemto properly address. Compared to the elderly living in rural areas, the elderly in urbanzones have distinct lifestyles such as extensive free time, more available informationJMR 111 E2 (2) - 2018relating to health problems, but most of all,less integrated neighborhood relationshipscompared to those in rural areas. Further,after retirement, may confront psychologicalloneliness, emptiness, and even abandonment by their children and neighbors, thiswould put the elderly in isolated situations.Hanoi is the capital of Viet Nam wherethere is a rapidly developing economy andgrowing population in which many Vietnamese households have 2 to 3 generati ...