Aging in A Changing World – the Impact of Social Contact and Physical Activity on Health-Related Quality among Older People from Austria – A Biological Perspective

Abstract

Background: All over the world we are confronted with an absolute and relative increase in the proportion of older people. In order to develop strategies to keep older people healthy and independent as long as possible, analyses of factors influencing health related quality of life (HRQL) during old age are necessary. The aim of this review is to present the results of three projects carried out in Austria by the author focusing on the impact of social contact and physical activity on HRQL. Methods: The standardized WHOQOL BREF and the Geriatric Depression Scale was used to estimate HRQL and prevalence of geriatric depression in older Austrians. For the assessment of social network characteristics, a 50 item questionnaire was used. Physical fitness was estimated by hand grip strength and sarcopenia and bone loss were determined by DEXA measurements. Results: Higher face to face contact frequency and higher number of offspring increased HRQL and reduced geriatric depression. Sarcopenia and reduced bone density which might increase the risk of frailty syndrome were significantly interrelated. Conclusions: The ongoing change of life circumstances increase psychosocial problems such as loneliness and depression among older people who no longer live embedded in their families. Childlessness and reduced contact frequency are related to health related quality of life during old age. This is also true of reduced physical activity in daily life, which increases the risk of sarcopenia and osteoporosis and may be invalid during old age. KeywordsHuman senescence; quality of life; social contacts; sarcopenia; osteoporosis IntroductionWithout any doubt, we are living in a rapidly changing world. Changing life circumstances and environmental change, however, are not new phenomenon of the 21 st century. Homo sapiens and his ancestors had to cope with a lot of drastic environmental changes during their evolution and history. During the last 200 years and in particular during the last few decades, however, the tempo of change has increased dramatically. Besides the natural environment, the economy, demography, social lifestyles and population composition have undergone rapid transitions [1][2][3]. From the viewpoint of public health, changes in lifestyle patterns and social environments have a major impact on psychosocial situations and health related quality of life of people all over the world. All stages of life history, in particular old age, are affected.One major determinant of the challenges associated with these changes is the marked change in population structure which is one hallmark of recent change. There is near certainty that we will be confronted with rapid population aging in many parts of the world during the next decades. In industrialized high income countries, population aging has been an ongoing phenomenon since the second half of the 20 th century. While the proportion of people older than 65 years is increasing steadily, the amount of children and adolescents (< 15 years) is decreasing. This trend is mainly ...