As presented in Table 1,
the mean age of the participants (133) was 73.9 ± 8.0 years; 36.1% were
female and 63.9% were male. Almost half (45.9%) of the study group had
no relatives or close friends and the majority (59.5%) had spent most
of their lives in a big city.
Table 1. Mean LSI-A scores of the study group and socio-demographic characteristics (n = 133)
The mean LSI-A score for the whole group was 20.9 ± 5.7. A
considerable percentage of the group (27.8%) was illiterate; 46.6% had
received primary school education; 22.6% had never been married, 20.3%
were without health insurance and 71.4% were in the low-income bracket.
The participants with low income had a significantly lower mean LSI-A
score than those with moderate/high income (p = 0.009). However, no
statistically significant differences were observed between the mean
LSI-A scores of the participants in respect of other socio-demographic
characteristics (Table 1).
It was observed that 27.1% of the study group took part in regular
physical activities (walking, calisthenics) and 25.6% took part in
regular leisure-time activities (handicrafts, reading, and gardening).
Only 21.8% among the elderly had had a fall in the previous year. 35.3%
were non-smokers and 78.2% were teetotal. The elderly who performed
regular physical activity had significantly higher mean LSI-A scores
than those who did not (p = 0.01). Those participating in regular
leisure-time activities also had significantly higher LSI-A scores (p =
0.002). However, no significant differences were observed in the mean
LSI-A scores with respect to smoking, alcohol use or fall history (p
> 0.05) (Table 2).
Table 2. Mean LSI-A scores according to health-related behaviors, fall history and regular leisure time activity
The multiple linear regression analysis results showed
that regular physical and leisure-time activities were significantly
related to LSI-A scores (p = 0.02, p = 0.005, respectively; R 2 = 0.112) (Table 3).
Table 3. Predictors of life satisfaction index scores by multiple linear regression analysis