The competing effects of disease states on quality of life of the elderly:the case of urinary symptoms in men

During the period 1993-1994 we conducted a study in Israel on a national-ba sed sample of 960 men to examine the relationships between urinary symptoms and various domains of quality of life (QoL). Regression analyses were per formed for each of the eight SF-36 domains, separately for the entire popul ation and for those without any co-morbidity. The dependent variable was th e SF-36 domain scores. The independent variables included age, origin, educ ation, employment and economic status, the degree of disturbance caused by urinary symptoms and the existence of co-morbidities. There was a significa nt difference between the entire population and the population without co-m orbidities. In the entire population we found that severely bothersome urin ary symptoms were related to scores on three QoL domains (social function, role-emotional and mental health) but there was no association with physica l functioning and general health perceptions. In men without co-morbidity, urinary symptoms were substantially related to physical functioning and gen eral health perceptions. These findings indicate that the relative weight o f the impact of a symptom or disease on QoL domains is changed by the prese nce of other competing factors, such as co-morbidities or sociodemographic attributes. Qual. Life Res. 8:93-99 (C) 1999 Kluwer Academic Publishers.