Influence of cognitive function and social support on health-related quality of life of elderly men in partial medically underserved rural areas: A cross-sectional study

Purpose: This study aimed to identify factors influencing the health-related quality of life of elderly men in partial medically underserved rural areas. Methods: The subjects included 182 elderly men aged 65 or older living in the jurisdictions of the Health Care Centers in Gyeryong-, Iin-, and Jeongan-myeon, which were medically underserved rural areas in Gongju city, South Korea. Data were collected on October 13 to November 1, 2020, and were analyzed with descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, Scheffé test, Pearson’s correlation coefficient, and hierarchical linear regression. Results: The subjects’ scored mean 24.20±3.29 points out of 30 in cognitive functions and mean 17.08±9.40 out of 60 in social support. The influential factors included three chronic diseases (β=-.50, p<.001), two chronic diseases (β=-.30, p<.001), one chronic disease (β=-.21, p=.012); fair subjective health status (β=.24, p<.001); good subjective health status (β=.25, p<.001); cognitive functions (β=.17, p=.004); aged 80 or older (β=-.16, p=.006); and brushing teeth three times per day or more (β=.14, p=.009) with an explanatory power of 53.8%. Conclusion: It is necessary to develop chronic disease management and cognitive function enhancement programs to identify factors influencing the health-related quality of life of elderly men in partial medically underserved rural areas and thus improve their health-related quality of life.