Abstract

Introduction and objective: Increased life expectancy is one of the achievements of the 21st century accompanied by the growing trend of chronic diseases. This study attempted to investigate the relationship between chronic diseases and quality of life among the elderly living in South East of Iran in 2015. Materials and methods: This was a cross-sectional, descriptive and analytical study on 425 people aged 60 years and older living in South-East of Iran. The sampling was multi-stage, while the research tool involved the abridged Persian version ofSF-36 questionnaire and the history of chronic diseases checklist. Data were analyzed through descriptive statistics, t-test, chi-square and Pearson correlation coefficient. Findings: The mean age of the elderly under study was 70.17±7.56. Moreover, 82.4 of the elderly suffered from at least one chronic disease. There was a significant statistical difference between the mean scores of the quality of life of patients with chronic diseases and healthy elderly (p<001.0). The quality of jobs was significantly correlated in most of the dimensions with education level, income and economic situation (p<05.0). Conclusions: The findings suggested that the increasing number of chronic illnesses reduces quality of life. Proper training in order to encourage the elderly can be effective in adopting healthy behaviors aimed at promoting health. © 2016, International Journal of Pharmacy and Technology. All rights reserved.