Health-related Quality of Life in Geriatric Patients: The Comparison of Outpatients Visiting Hospital-based and Community-based Family Medicine Clinics

老年病患生活品質分析：比較就診醫院及社區家庭醫學科門診之病患

10.7023/TJFM.200506.0087

康世肇(Shih-Chao Kang)；李祥和(Shiang-Ho Lee)；黃信彰(Shinn-Jang Hwang)

family physician ； geriatrics ； outpatient ； quality of life

台灣家庭醫學雜誌

15卷2期（2005 / 06 / 01）

87 - 96

英文

Our aim is to understand the quality of life in geriatric outpatients, and to compare the differences between those visiting hospital-based and community-based family medicine clinics. Prospective questionnaire surveys were conducted in family medicine clinics at a medical center and one united local clinic in Taipei metropolitan, Taiwan. Randomly-enrolled voluntary outpatients 65 years or older were interviewed. We conducted the Short Form 36 Health-related Quality of Life Questionnaire (SF-36) Taiwan version to record data, and then compared scores between two groups. A total of 148 subjects were enrolled in 2002. Seventy-four subjects were from hospital-based clinics and 74 age-sex-matched ones from community-based clinics. The mean age of subjects was 73.0±4.5 years (range 65 to 88 years). The combined chronic illness differed insignificantly between two groups. The quality of life was more impaired in subjects from hospital-based clinics in the domains of General Health, Role-Physical, Role-Emotional, Vitality, and Mental Health than in those from community-based clinics (p＜0.05). The domains of Social Functioning and Physical functioning showed no significant difference between both groups, and were similar with the norms of age-matched Taiwanese population. In our research, the geriatric outpatients visiting hospital-based clinics felt a more impaired quality of life than those visiting community-based clinics in partial domains. Subjective recognition of illness may play an important role in the patients' utilization of health services.

Our aim is to understand the quality of life in geriatric outpatients, and to compare the differences between those visiting hospital-based and community-based family medicine clinics. Prospective questionnaire surveys were conducted in family medicine clinics at a medical center and one united local clinic in Taipei metropolitan, Taiwan. Randomly-enrolled voluntary outpatients 65 years or older were interviewed. We conducted the Short Form 36 Health-related Quality of Life Questionnaire (SF-36) Taiwan version to record data, and then compared scores between two groups. A total of 148 subjects were enrolled in 2002. Seventy-four subjects were from hospital-based clinics and 74 age-sex-matched ones from community-based clinics. The mean age of subjects was 73.0±4.5 years (range 65 to 88 years). The combined chronic illness differed insignificantly between two groups. The quality of life was more impaired in subjects from hospital-based clinics in the domains of General Health, Role-Physical, Role-Emotional, Vitality, and Mental Health than in those from community-based clinics (p＜0.05). The domains of Social Functioning and Physical functioning showed no significant difference between both groups, and were similar with the norms of age-matched Taiwanese population. In our research, the geriatric outpatients visiting hospital-based clinics felt a more impaired quality of life than those visiting community-based clinics in partial domains. Subjective recognition of illness may play an important role in the patients' utilization of health services.

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