QUALITY OF LIFE OF ELDERLY PERSONS

Abstract

The third stage of life is a stage in life, not a disease. The aging process is an unsustainable biological process that ends with aging, and consists in the loss of tissue regeneration abilities. Involution and aging is a normal process that occurs gradually. It is the so-called physiological aging that should be distinguished from pathological aging. Quality of life is the subject of research in numerous sciences. Among other things, it has become a prominent subject of interest in psychology, sociology, philosophy, medicine and health care. Terms such as quality of life, happiness, and subjective well-being are often taken as synonyms for life satisfaction. Through a scientific literature review, we will examine the quality of life of elderly people. Research material and methods: The work was conceived as a scientific review of the literature, various databases from journals, scientific research, scientific and professional papers obtained from Medline, PabMed, Google Scholar, Research Gate were used. Articles were also selected from references of relevant articles, by searching on journal websites and by hand search. Without any restrictions in terms of time period, vocabulary, religiosity, all those studies that will cover certain criteria will be included: (1) Respondents of both sexes older than 65 years; (2) quality of life; (3) the third age of life. Animal studies, records and case series, conference abstracts, or undated letters were excluded. Based on the collected data from the database, a scientific literature review was compiled. Results: Through a scientific review of the literature, the results of the importance of the quality of life in people of the third age were presented. A total of 738 papers, published in the period from 2016 to 2022, extracted from 4 databases, were taken into account. After finishing the copies of studies and publications that are irrelevant, 278 papers were further processed, while only 30 papers were read in full, only 5 papers satisfied the 3 criteria for implementation in the scientific literature review. Conclusion: Daily activity of physical persons older than 65 significantly improves quality of life, functional independence, performance of daily basic and instrumental activities, satisfaction with life. A sudden decrease in the quality of life occurs in late age, it is strongly connected with the health condition and, in the last case, with mortality. Knowing the indicators of quality of life and changes in the longest-lived people can encourage society to intervene, because only a healthy and satisfied person can function physically, mentally and socially and feel a positive emotional state, such as satisfaction and happiness, which are the most important individual determinants of quality of life.