Anxiety and its impact on quality of life among urban elderly population in India: An exploratory study

Abstract

Background: Persistent suffering in anxiety can cause various health problems in old age and impairment of quality of life (QOL). Objectives: The objectives of this study are to assess the pattern of covert and overt anxiety among elderly population, to study the nature of relationship between the pattern of anxiety and domains of World Health Organization‑QOL (WHO‑QOL) among elderly population, to study the gender difference on the pattern of anxiety and WHO‑QOL among elderly population. Materials and Methods: An exploratory cross‑sectional survey under a health camp approach was conducted by using two types of questionnaire, i.e., Institute for Personality and Ability Testing self‑analysis questionnaire and WHOQOL‑BREF. Results: The gender wise comparative profile of covert and overt anxiety with total, standard, and sten score shows that covert anxiety is higher in male in different background characteristics, except male group educated between 5th and 12th standard showing higher overt anxiety, whereas female group shows higher overt anxiety in different background characteristics. Spearman’s rank correlation shows that overt anxiety has an inverse relation with domain‑1 in both sexes, a negative relationship is found between domain‑2 of WHO‑QOL and the covert and overt anxiety among female, a significant negative relationship in domain‑3 of WHO‑QOL with covert and overt anxiety among male, and also a significant negative association between the domain‑4 of WHO‑QOL and overt anxiety in female. Conclusion: The functional ability of both male and female elderly on various domains is related and influenced by the pattern of anxiety.