Ngaire Kerse1, Ruth Teh2, Simon A Moyes3, Lorna Dyall4, Janine L Wiles5, Mere Kēpa6, Carol Wham7, Karen Hayman8, Martin Connolly9, Tim Wilkinson10, Valerie Wright St Clair11, Sally Keeling12, Joanna Broad13, Santosh Jatrana14, Thomas Lumley15. 1. Professor and Head, School of Population Health, Tāmaki, University of Auckland. 2. enior Lecturer, Department of General Practice and Primary Health Care, School of Population Health, Tāmaki, University of Auckland. 3. Statistician, Department of General Practice and Primary Health Care, School of Population Health, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Auckland. 4. Senior Lecturer, Department of General Practice and Primary Health Care, School of Population Health, Tāmaki, University of Auckland. 5. Senior Lecturer, Social and Community Health, School of Population Health, Tāmaki Campus, University of Auckland. 6. Honorary Senior Research Fellow, Department of General Practice and Primary Health Care, School of Population Health, Tāmaki Campus, University of Auckland. 7. Senior Lecturer, Institute of Food, Nutrition and Human Health, Massey University, Auckland. 8. Research Fellow, Department of General Practice and Primary Health Care, School of Population Health, Tāmaki Campus, University of Auckland. 9. Freemasons' Professor of Geriatric Medicine, Freemason's Department of Geriatric Medicine, University of Auckland and Waitemata District Health Board. 10. Professor of Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Otago, Christchurch, New Zealand. 11. Associate Professor, School of Occupational Science and Therapy, and Co-Director Active Ageing Research Group Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand. 12. Senior Lecturer, Department of Medicine, University of Otago, Christchurch, New Zealand. 13. Senior Research Fellow, Freemason's Department of Geriatric Medicine, North Shore, University of Auckland. 14. Associate Professor, Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship & Globalisation, Deakin University Waterfront Campus, Geelong, Victoria, Australia. Honorary Senior Research Fellow, University of Otago, Wellington. 15. Professor of Biostatistics, Department of Statistics, University of Auckland.
Abstract
AIM: To establish socioeconomic and cultural profiles and correlates of quality of life (QoL) in non-Māori of advanced age. METHOD: A cross sectional analysis of the baseline data of a cohort study of 516 non-Māori aged 85 years living in the Bay of Plenty and Rotorua areas of New Zealand. Socioeconomic and cultural characteristics were established by face-to-face interviews in 2010. Health-related QoL (HRQoL) was assessed with the SF-12. RESULTS: Of the 516 non-Māori participants enrolled in the study, 89% identified as New Zealand European, 10% other European, 1% were of Pacific, Asian or Middle Eastern ethnicity; 20% were born overseas and half of these identified as 'New Zealand European.' More men were married (59%) and more women lived alone (63%). While 89% owned their own home, 30% received only the New Zealand Superannuation as income and 22% reported that they had 'just enough to get along on'. More than 85% reported that they had sufficient practical and emotional support; 11% and 6% reported unmet need for practical and emotional support respectively. Multivariate analyses showed that those with unmet needs for practical and emotional support had lower mental HR QoL (p<0.005). Reporting that family were important to wellbeing was associated with higher mental HR QoL (p=0.038). Those that did not need practical help (p=0.047) and those that reported feeling comfortable with their money situation (0.0191) had higher physical HRQoL. High functional status was strongly associated with both high mental and high physical HR QoL (p<0.001). CONCLUSION: Among our sample of non-Māori people of advanced age, those with unmet support needs reported low HRQoL. Functional status was most strongly associated with mental and physical HRQoL.
AIM: To establish socioeconomic and cultural profiles and correlates of quality of life (QoL) in non-Māori of advanced age. METHOD: A cross sectional analysis of the baseline data of a cohort study of 516 non-Māori aged 85 years living in the Bay of Plenty and Rotorua areas of New Zealand. Socioeconomic and cultural characteristics were established by face-to-face interviews in 2010. Health-related QoL (HRQoL) was assessed with the SF-12. RESULTS: Of the 516 non-Māori participants enrolled in the study, 89% identified as New Zealand European, 10% other European, 1% were of Pacific, Asian or Middle Eastern ethnicity; 20% were born overseas and half of these identified as 'New Zealand European.' More men were married (59%) and more women lived alone (63%). While 89% owned their own home, 30% received only the New Zealand Superannuation as income and 22% reported that they had 'just enough to get along on'. More than 85% reported that they had sufficient practical and emotional support; 11% and 6% reported unmet need for practical and emotional support respectively. Multivariate analyses showed that those with unmet needs for practical and emotional support had lower mental HR QoL (p<0.005). Reporting that family were important to wellbeing was associated with higher mental HR QoL (p=0.038). Those that did not need practical help (p=0.047) and those that reported feeling comfortable with their money situation (0.0191) had higher physical HRQoL. High functional status was strongly associated with both high mental and high physical HR QoL (p<0.001). CONCLUSION: Among our sample of non-Māori people of advanced age, those with unmet support needs reported low HRQoL. Functional status was most strongly associated with mental and physical HRQoL.