Factors associated with perceived quality of life in older adults: ELSI-Brazil

Anita Liberalesso Neri

Universidade Estadual de Campinas. Faculdade de Ciências Médicas. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Gerontologia. Campinas, SP, Brasil

Flávia Silva Arbex Borim

Universidade Estadual de Campinas. Faculdade de Ciências Médicas. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Gerontologia. Campinas, SP, Brasil

Arlete Portella Fontes

Universidade Estadual de Campinas. Faculdade de Ciências Médicas. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Gerontologia. Campinas, SP, Brasil

Dóris Firmino Rabello

Universidade do Recôncavo da Bahia. Centro de Ciências da Saúde. Santo Antônio de Jesus, BA, Brasil

Meire Cachioni

Universidade Estadual de Campinas. Faculdade de Ciências Médicas. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Gerontologia. Campinas, SP, Brasil

Universidade de São Paulo. Escola de Ciências, Artes e Humanidades. Curso de Gerontologia. São Paulo, SP, Brasil

Samila Sathler Tavares Batistoni

Universidade Estadual de Campinas. Faculdade de Ciências Médicas. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Gerontologia. Campinas, SP, Brasil

Universidade de São Paulo. Escola de Ciências, Artes e Humanidades. Curso de Gerontologia. São Paulo, SP, Brasil

Mônica Sanches Yassuda

Universidade Estadual de Campinas. Faculdade de Ciências Médicas. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Gerontologia. Campinas, SP, Brasil

Universidade de São Paulo. Escola de Ciências, Artes e Humanidades. Curso de Gerontologia. São Paulo, SP, Brasil

Paulo Roberto Borges de Souza Júnior

Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto de Comunicação e Informação Científica e Tecnológica em Saúde. Ministério da Saúde. Belo Horizonte, MG, Brasil

Ministério da Saúde, Ministério da Saúde, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brasil

Fabiola Bof de Andrade

Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto René Rachou. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Saúde Coletiva. Belo Horizonte, MG, Brasil

Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto René Rachou. Núcleo de Estudos em Saúde Pública e Envelhecimento. Belo Horizonte, MG, Brasil

Maria Fernanda Lima-Costa

Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto René Rachou. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Saúde Coletiva. Belo Horizonte, MG, Brasil

Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto René Rachou. Núcleo de Estudos em Saúde Pública e Envelhecimento. Belo Horizonte, MG, Brasil

Correspondence: Anita Liberalesso Neri. Av. Tessália Vieira de Camargo, 120 13083-887 Campinas, SP, Brasil E-mail: anitalbn@uol.com.br

Authors’ Contribution: Design, analysis and interpretation of results, preparation and writing of the manuscript and critical review of content: ALN, FSAB, APF, DFR, MC, SSTB, MSY, PRBSJr, FBA and MFLC. All authors approved the final version of the manuscript

Conflict of interests: The authors declared that there were no conflicts of interest.

Characteristic	Percent or average	95%CI
Female sex	46.8	43.6–49.4
Average age	61.9	61.2–62.6
Schooling < 4 years	38.3	35.5–41.2
Difficulty in mobility	53.8	51.1–56.5
Always feels lonely	14.9	13.5–16.5
Has no children or meets with them < 1 time per year	29.0	27.0–31.1
Has no other relatives or meets them < 1 time per year	17.2	15.7–18.9
Has no friends or meets them < 1 time per year	12.0	10.7–13.4
Participates in social activities: proximal level	89.6	87.4–91.4
Participates in social activities: intermediate level	52.1	48.4–55.8
Participates in social activities: distal level	55.3	52.3–58.3
Main instrumental support in the home: children/ daughter-in-law or son-in-law	42.8	40.8–44.8
Main instrumental support outside the home: children/ daughter-in-law or son-in-law	49.7	47.6–51.8
Primary emotional support: children/ daughter-in-law or son-in-law	34.3	32.2–36.5
Main material support: children/ daughter-in-law or son-in-law	35.1	33.1–37.1

Variable	Prevalence of the best PQOL^a	RP adjusted by sex and age^b	95%CI
Gender
Female	26.0	1
Male	30.3	1.16	1.04–1.28^c
Age group (years)
50–59	28.7	1
60–69	27.6	0.96	0.86–1.07
70–79	27.9	0.98	0.84–1.14
80 or over	23.0	0.80	0.68–0.95^d
Schooling (years)
< 4	32.9	1
4–7	26.1	0.77	0.69–0.86
8 or over	25.8	0.75	0.68–0.83
Difficulty in mobility
No	31.0	1
Yes	25.5	0.84	0.74–0.95
Feeling of loneliness
Never/ Sometimes	28.0	1
Always	28.4	1.05	0.93–1.19

Variable	Prevalence of the best PQOL^a	PR adjusted by sex and age^b	95%CI
Meeting with children
Has no children or meets them less than once a year	27.7	1
1–2 times a year	31.1	1.13	0.96–1.33
At least once, every 2–3 months	29.0	1.06	0.91–1.23
1 or more times per week	27.4	1.01	0.89–1.14
Meeting with other relatives
Has no relatives or meets them less than once a year	27.7	1
1–2 times a year	29.4	1.05	0.93–1.19
At least once, every 2–3 months	27.2	0.97	0.85–1.10
1 or more times per week	28.1	1.00	0.90–1.11
Frequency with which one meets a friend
Has no friends or meets them less than once a year	21.1	1
1 or 2 times a year	22.9	1.10	0.77–1.57
At least once, every 2–3 months	26.6	1.25	1.01–1.55
1 or more times per week	29.7	1.39	1.18–1.63
Participation in social activities: proximal level
No	27.6	1
Yes	28.1	1.07	0.87–1.34
Participation in social activities: intermediate level
No	28.2	1
Yes	27.9	1.06	0.94–1.18
Participation in social activities: distal level
No	27.0	1
Yes	28.9	1.11	1.01–1.22

Variable	Prevalence of the best PQOL^a	PR adjusted by sex and age^b	95%CI
Instrumental support indoors
No one	15.9	1
Others	26.9	1.67	1.10–2.53
Other relatives	25.2	1.54	0.99–2.39
Children/ Daughter-in-law or son-in-law	28.0	1.77	1.16–2.69
Spouse or partner	31.4	1.86	1.23–2.81
Instrumental support outside the home
No one	19.4	1
Others	26.0	1.34	0.86–2.09
Other relatives	27.2	1.39	0.94–2.07
Children/ Daughter-in-law or son-in-law	28.1	1.47	0.99–2.19
Spouse or partner	29.1	1.45	0.95–2.21
Emotional support
No one	18.9	1
Others	24.6	1.31	0.99–1.74
Other relatives	27.7	1.46	1.14–1.87
Children/ Daughter-in-law or son-in-law	29.3	1.59	1.26–2.02
Spouse or partner	30.2	1.51	1.18–1.92
Material support
No one	24.8	1
Others	27.7	1.09	0.89–1.34
Other relatives	26.2	1.04	0.86–1.25
Children/ Daughter-in-law or son-in-law	29.1	1.21	1.01–1.44
Spouse or partner	30.5	1.21	0.96–1.52

Variable	adjusted PR*	95%CI
Age group (versus 50–59 years)
60–69	0.92	0.83–1.03
70–79	0.91	0.78–1.08
80 or over	0.77	0.65–0.92
Schooling (versus < 4 years)
4–7	0.78	0.69–0.88
8 or over	0.75	0.66–0.85
Difficulty in mobility (versus: no)	0.83	0.73–0.93
Frequency with which one meets a friend (versus: one doesn’t have friends or meets them less than once a year)
1 or 2 times a year	1.08	0.77–1.51
At least once, every 2–3 months	1.25	1.03–1.52
1 or more times per week	1.36	1.17–1.58
Instrumental support indoors (versus: no one)
Others	1.48	0.97–2.23
Other relatives	1.36	0.85–2.17
Children/ Daughter-in-law or son-in-law	1.51	0.99–2.31
Spouse or partner	1.69	1.10–2.59
Emotional support (versus: no one)
Others	1.22	0.92–1.62
Other relatives	1.45	1.13–1.85
Children/ Daughter-in-law or son-in-law	1.41	1.10–1.80
Spouse or partner	1.33	1.03–1.71

Brasil