Objective: To study the social determinants and health-related quality of life among the Chinese 'empty nest' (lonely) elderly.
Methods: A total of 4995 elderly, aged 60 or over were recruited in rural and urban areas of Zhejiang province, under a cluster sampling method. Stepwise logistic regression analysis was performed to analyze the social determinants on the 'empty nest' elderly. Health-related quality of life was assessed by SF-36 and compared between the 'empty nest' and 'non-empty nest' elderly, using multiple linear regression analysis after adjusting for confounding factors.
Results: Comparing with the 'non-empty nest' elderly, the characteristics of the empty nest population were as follows: age at 70 to 79 (P = 0.0417), having higher education level (P < 0.0001), living in rural area (P < 0.0001), lower income level (P = 0.0178, P = 0.0049), with higher level of satisfaction of life (P = 0.0070, P = 0.0035) and lower level of depressive mood (P = 0.0371). 'Empty nest' elderly people had lower scores of SF-36 in BP (P = 0.0032)dimension of physical function, and RE (P = 0.0033) dimension of psychological function as well as MCS (P = 0.0342) after adjusting for age, gender, marriage status, education level, residential areas, personal income, scores for satisfaction of life and depressive mood.
Conclusion: The 'empty nest' elderly people with the characteristics such as higher education level, lower income level and living in the rural areas should be under greater concern, especially on those people with lower health-related quality of life or poorer psychological function.