In a study conducted by the Medical University of Vienna, the development of the quality of life of older people in Austria was analysed over a period of more than ten years in a large, representative sample of adults aged 65 and over. For the first time, not only the variables of gender, state of health and region were taken into account, but also correlations with socio-economic factors. The result: although the subjectively perceived quality of life in old age has improved slightly over the years, it still lags behind in a country comparison. In particular, the number of years lived in good health in Germany is below the European average. The results of the study were recently published in the "Journal of Aging & Social Policy".
In order to investigate changes in the quality of life of older people in Austria over a period of 13 years, a multidisciplinary research team led by Judit Simon and Gerald Haidinger from MedUni Vienna’s Center for Public Health, with Richard Felsinger as first author, analysed data from the Austrian Health Survey conducted by Statistics Austria in 2006, 2014 and 2019 on 10,056 people aged 65 and over. The results show that self-reported quality of life has improved slightly in some areas. These include a decline in educational inequalities, higher incomes and progress in access to social support services, which are reflected in particular in a better assessment of mental and social quality of life aspects. Despite these developments, however, clear differences remain: Younger senior citizens, people with a higher income or level of education and residents of western federal states report a significantly higher quality of life. In contrast, older people, people with low incomes or chronic illnesses and residents in Vienna and the rest of eastern Austria are particularly disadvantaged.
Sound basis for measures
In a European comparison, the authors of the study also report that Austria continues to lag behind: while many EU countries have been able to increase the number of healthy life years per person in recent decades, these figures have stagnated in Austria since 2008. In 2021, the average number of healthy life years in Austria was 61.3 years for women and 61.5 years for men, below the EU average (64.2 and 63.1 years respectively). The regional differences in Austria are also particularly striking: residents of western federal states such as Tyrol or Vorarlberg experience significantly more healthy years of life than those in the east.
What also surprised the research team was that although women perform worse in many areas of quality of life, these differences are almost completely eliminated when factors such as income and education are taken into account. "This emphasises the central role of socio-economic conditions as a lever for improving quality of life in old age. This would presumably benefit women in particular, who on average receive considerably less pension than men in Austria," emphasises study author Richard Felsinger.
Overall, the study results show how strongly socio-economic, gender-specific and regional inequalities in Austria characterise the quality of life in old age. Despite the public health challenges posed by the ageing population and the already known discrepancy between life expectancy and healthy life years in Austria, there has been little knowledge about the quality of life and well-being of older people. "Our analysis can provide a sound basis for customised policy measures so that older people can not only live longer, but also healthier and more fulfilled lives," says Felsinger.
Publication: Journal of Aging & Social Policy
Aging Well? Exploring Self-Reported Quality of Life in the Older Austrian Population Based on Repeated Cross-Sectional Data
Richard Felsinger, Susanne Mayer, Gerald Haidinger, Judit Simon
https://doi.org/10.1080/08959420.2024.2423102
