Calidad de vida en personas mayores con depresión y dependencia funcional: Validez del cuestionario SF-12

Resumen

Background: Depression and dependence have a great impact on the quality of life of older people. Aim: To validate the SF-12 (short-form) health related quality of care questionnaire (HRQOL) as an alternative of the SF-36 to estimate health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and its association with depression and dependence in Chilean older people living in the community. Material and Methods: The questionnaire was answered by 4,124 Chilean older people (61% women). HRQoL was evaluated with the SF-36 questionnaire. The SF-12 questionnaire includes 12 items from the SF-36. Results: The internal consistency of the SF-12 questionnaire was high (0.88). The effect size of the differences in the averages of the SF-12 and SF-36 scales was small (0.06-0.41). Good agreement was found between the physical and mental components of the SF-12 and SF-36 (0.94 and 0.89). Logistic regressions determined that people with dependence and depression have a higher risk of poor HRQoL. The figures for the physical component were, mild depression: odds ratio (OR) (95% confidence intervals (CI)=3.28(2.74-3.93), severe depression: OR(IC95%CI)=4.66(3.55-6.11), mild to moderate dependence: OR(95CI%)=3.67(2.97-4.54), severe dependence: OR(95%CI)=13.06(7.23-23.61)). For the mental component, the figures were: mild depression: OR(95CI%)=6.11(5.05-7.38), severe depression: OR(95CI%)=22.01(14.47-33.49), mild to moderate dependence: OR(95CI%)=1.59(1.28-1.97), severe dependence: OR(95CI%)=1.60(1.04-2.47)), adjusting for sociodemographic and health-related variables. Conclusions: The validity of the SF-12 for measuring HRQoL was demonstrated. People with depression and dependence have a worse physical and mental quality of life.