The quality of life of the elderly patient with chronic illness

By means of the "Profile of the qualify of life of chronically ill" (PLC; S iegrist er al., 1996) the health-related life quality was assessed in a com munity sample of 566 subjects (aged 61 - 93 years). This study is based on the fact that the physical strength of aging people is declining and that t here is an increasing risk for chronic body complaints with increasing age (multimorbidity). In most cases this causes negative consequences for the p sychic well-being and the competence in daily life and social contacts. The results of this study reveal a decline in the health-related life quality of the elderly compared with younger people (18-60 years). This holds furth er true with growing age within the group of the elderly more than 60 pears of age. There are only small sex-specific differences. Compared with old p eople from West German: in the elderly from East Germany we found a higher amount of the ability to enjoy, a higher amount of the ability to form inte rpersonal relationships and a higher amount of the sense of belonging. Ther e are high correlations of the health-related life quality with the subject ive body experience and with the psychic mood. Beyond age also the level of education and of income are important determinants for different dimension s of health related quality of life. The results show that specific age nor ms are necessary for the elderly.