The final period of life in elderly people in Sweden: factors associated with QOL

Whether elderly people in the final period of life have a high quality of life (QOL) and what factors relate QOL in this context, is not well known. The aim of this study was to examine the final period in life in elderly people (75 years or older) in need of help with instrumental activities of daily living (ADL), with the focus on quality of life, sense of coherence (SOC), health complaints and self-reported diseases. Also to investigate factors associated with QOL and factors predicting mortality. The sample consisted of 411 people, fifty of the respondents (the study group) had died within 1 year of data collection. The results showed that the study group had lower QOL than the comparison group. More admissions to hospital as well as the number of health complaints present negatively affected QOL for all respondents. Factors that predicted mortality included older age and higher number of health complaints.