Quality of life and depression in elderly persons engaged in physical activities

Backgroung/Aim. Since the number of elderly persons is gradually increasing worldwide, there is a need to identify the factors that affect the quality of healthy ageing. On the other hand, depression is the most common psychiatric disorder in the elderly and one of the most serious health problems that modern society is facing. Considering the importance of physical activity for healthy ageing, the question is whether there are differences in quality of life and depression in the elderly in relation to the certain characteristics of physical activities practicing. Methods. Differences in the quality of life and occurrence of depression in elderly were examined in relation to duration of a single training session and frequency of physical activities per week. This non-experimental, descriptive and comparative cross-sectional study involved a total of 188 persons aged 65–84 years, where 90 persons are engaged in a physical activity while 98 persons are not. The Older People’s Quality of Life Questionnaire and the Geriatric Depression Scale were used. Results. Statistically significant difference was found in the following domains of quality of life: health, social relationships and psychological and emotional well-being as well as in the total score of quality of life and in the occurrence of depression. The highest values of quality of life and the lowest level of depression manifestation were observed in the group of persons whose single training session lasted for 60 minutes, and in the group of persons engaged in a physical activity twice a week. Conclusion. The main finding indicates that the differences in the duration of a single training session and the frequency of physical activities per week reflect on the overall quality of life, individual domains of quality of life and the occurrence of depression in the elderly persons. [Project of the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Grant no. III47015: Efekti primenjene fizicke aktivnosti na lokomotorni, metabolicki, psiho-socijalni i vaspitni status populacije R. Srbije]