Scholarly record

PERCEPTION OF HEALTH STATUS AND BODY MASS INDEX (BMI) AMONG ELDERLY WITH DIABETES WHO ARE USERS OF INSTITUTIONAL CARE AND LOCAL COMMUNITY USERS

Ivana Crnkovic, A. Racz, T. Rukavina, V. V. Marchesi, A. Starc

Abstract

Obesity in elderly people with type 2 diabetes is a public health problem and preventing it is an important outcome of the rehabilitation process. The objectives of the paper were to determine whether there are differences in the BMI result of elderly persons in the Republic of Croatia who are beneficiaries of institutional care compared to those who live independently in their own living space and examine the degree of quality of life and satisfaction with health of elderly people in the examined groups. The study included 200 elderly participants. The study group included elderly people with type 2 diabetes and elderly non-diabetic people who are users of institutional care and those who live independently. The study used BMI, and two items from the WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire. Self-assessment of quality of life positively correlates with self-assessment of their health regardless of whether they are institutional care users or are living independently in their own living space. On the total sample, the BMI index Mean=26.69, the value of which is related to increased risk for cardiovascular disease, regardless of whether elderly people are users of nursing homes or live independently. Elderly persons without diabetes had a significantly lower BMI compared with participants who have type 2 diabetes. The results of this study point to the importance of developing a training program in this population with the goal of preventing excessive weight.

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