Health-related quality of life in old age: preliminary report on the male perspective

Abstract

Health-related quality of life is a key element of successful aging. With life expectancy increasing, postmenopausal estrogen/gestagen replacement therapy has been under discussion for some time with the aim of achieving a higher quality of life in old age. For a long time, the relevance of hormonal aging was only discussed with reference to women; however, more recent work deals with concepts that affect both sexes. According to recent studies, numerous symptoms and complaints which may impair quality of life, can be attributed to hormonal changes in old age in both women and men. The majority of age-related complaints, such as a decline in physical performance, decreased sexual activity and a deterioration of general well-being, are strongly reminiscent of the symptoms of classical pituitary disorders in adulthood. Since the early 1990s, scientific studies have also been investigating the influence of hormone 'replacement' in elderly men, using, for example, growth hormones. However, until now there has been no suitable measure for assessing the quality of life specifically in elderly men. In a research project aimed at developing a questionnaire (the VITA questionnaire), roughly equal numbers of elderly men and women were asked about their subjective health and quality of life. It was found that men assessed their health-related quality of life very positively in a number of different dimensions of the questionnaire. In the present article the individual aspects of the quality of life of men are described and examples of gender-related differences are presented and discussed.