Health-related quality of life and ego integrity among the oldest old – Evidence from the multicenter AgeCoDe-AgeQualiDe study

• DOI: 10.1016/j.archger.2021.104408
• Publication Date: 2021-03-31T14:38:45Z
• Authors: André Hajek; Simon Forstmeier; Christian Brettsc...; Dagmar Lühmann; Juliane Döhring; Birgitt Wiese; Anke Oey; Siegfried Weyerer; Jochen Werle; Michael Pentzek; Angela Fuchs; Susanne Röhr; Ines Conrad; Dagmar Weeg; Edelgard Mösch; Kathrin Heser; Michael Wagner; Martin Scherer; Wolfgang Maier; Steffi G. Riedel-...; Hans-Helmut König
• Keywords: Aged, 80 and over; Ego; Health-related quality of life; EQ-5D; 3. Good health; EQ-VAS; Oldest old; Ego integrity; 03 medical and health sciences; Cross-Sectional Studies; 0302 clinical medicine; Surveys and Questionnaires; Quality of Life; Humans; ddc:610; Prospective Studies; Cohort study

To investigate the association between health-related quality of life and ego integrity among the oldest old.Cross-sectional data were taken from follow-up wave 9 of the multicenter prospective cohort study "Needs, health service use, costs and health-related quality of life in a large sample of oldest-old primary care patients (85+)" (AgeQualiDe). Our analytical sample comprised n = 495 observations. Mean age was 90.2 years (SD: 2.7 years). Health-related quality of life was quantified using the EQ-5D-3L questionnaire (including the visual analogue scale EQ-VAS). Ego integrity was measured using the Ego Integrity Scale.Regressions showed an association between decreased ego integrity and problems with 'usual activities', 'pain/discomfort' and 'anxiety/depression'. Furthermore, regressions showed a marginally significant association between decreased ego integrity and problems with 'mobility' and a decreased EQ-VAS score. Ego integrity was not significantly associated with problems with 'self-care'.Findings stress the importance of health-related quality of life for ego integrity among the oldest old. Future studies are required to clarify the underlying mechanisms.