Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2019 Jul 5;19(1):187.
doi: 10.1186/s12877-019-1194-z.

Factors related to health-related quality of life in older people with multimorbidity and high health care consumption over a two-year period

Leonie Klompstra  1   2 , Anne W Ekdahl  3 , Barbro Krevers  4 , Anna Milberg  5   6 , Jeanette Eckerblad  7
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Factors related to health-related quality of life in older people with multimorbidity and high health care consumption over a two-year period

Leonie Klompstra et al. BMC Geriatr. .

Abstract

Background: The prevalence of multimorbidity is increasing worldwide, and older people with multimorbidity are frequent users of health care services. Since multimorbidity has a significant negative impact on Health-related Quality of Life (HrQoL) and is more common in older age it would be expected that factors related to HrQoL in this group might have been thoroughly researched, but this is not the case. Furthermore, it is important to look at old people living at home, considering the shift from residential to home-based care. Therefore, we aim to investigate factors that are related to HrQoL in older people with multimorbidity and high health care consumption, living at home.

Methods: This is a secondary analysis of a RCT study conducted in a municipality in south-eastern Sweden. The study had a longitudinal design with a two-year follow-up period assessing HrQoL, symptom burden, activities of daily living, physical activity and depression.

Results: In total, 238 older people with multimorbidity and high health care consumption, living at home were included (mean age 82, 52% female). A multiple linear regression model including symptom burden, activities of daily living and depression as independent variables explained 64% of the HrQoL. Higher symptom burden, lower ability in activities of daily living and a higher degree of depression were negatively related to HrQoL. Depression at baseline and a change in symptom burden over a two-year period explained 28% of the change in HrQoL over a two-year period variability. A higher degree of depression at baseline and negative change in higher symptom burden were related to a decrease in HrQoL over a two-year period.

Conclusion: In order to facilitate better delivery of appropriate health care to older people with high health care consumption living at home it is important to assess HrQoL, and HrQoL over time. Symptom burden, activities of daily living, depression and change in symptom burden over time are important indicators for HrQoL.

Trial registration: Clinicaltrials.gov identifier: NCT01446757 , the trial was registered prospectively with the date of trial registration October 5th, 2011.

Keywords: Ambulatory geriatric care; Comprehensive geriatric assessment; High health care consumption; HrQoL; Multimorbidity; Symptom burden.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

References

    1. Fortin M, Stewart M, Poitras M-E, Almirall J, Maddocks H. A systematic review of prevalence studies on multimorbidity: toward a more uniform methodology. Ann Fam Med. 2012;10(2):142–151. doi: 10.1370/afm.1337. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Glynn LG, Valderas JM, Healy P, et al. The prevalence of multimorbidity in primary care and its effect on health care utilization and cost. Fam Pract. 2011;28(5):516–523. doi: 10.1093/fampra/cmr013. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Yarnall AJ, Sayer AA, Clegg A, Rockwood K, Parker S, Hindle JV. New horizons in multimorbidity in older adults. Age Ageing. 2017;46(6):882–888. doi: 10.1093/ageing/afx150. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Goodman RA, Posner SF, Huang ES, Parekh AK, Koh HK. Peer reviewed: defining and measuring chronic conditions: imperatives for research, policy, program, and practice. Prev Chronic Dis. 2013;10:E66. - PMC - PubMed
    1. van Oostrom SH, Picavet HSJ, van Gelder BM, et al. Multimorbidity and comorbidity in the Dutch population–data from general practices. BMC Public Health. 2012;12(1):715. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-12-715. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

Associated data