Predictors of quality of life in the elderly

The aim of this study is to investigate which factors are related to the quality of life of the elderly in the Czech Republic. In the first part of the work we summarized current findings about the ageing, particularly from demographical, sociological and psychopathological perspectives. Farther we discussed the concept of quality of life and research of quality of life in the elderly. In the second research part we analysed data from a representative sample of 325 older adults living in Prague that we collected as a part of the cross-cultural project "The Measurement of Quality of Life in Older Adults and its Relationship to Healthy Ageing". Set of instruments included the quality of life assessments (WHOQOL-BREF and WHOQOL-OLD), the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), The Attitudes to Ageing Questionnaire AAQ and Socio-demographic form. To identify determinants of various aspects of quality of life we ran regression analyses separately for each of the six WHOQOL-OLD and four WHOQOL-BREF dimensions. The strongest predictor across all quality of life dimensions was depression. The results confirm the importance of interventions and programmes promoting psychological well-being and preventing depressing in the elderly