Objectives: Aging is linked to physiological changes, increased vulnerability, and often psychological, cognitive, and social changes that might affect mental health. Our aim was to explore factors that contribute to mental wellbeing in older people with increased risk of hospitalization. Method: This study is a part of a Swedish clinical trial: Secure And Focused primary care for older pEople (SAFE), and included 1169 community-dwelling people aged 75 years or older, with a high risk of hospitalization. An individual self-assessment questionnaire that included questions about health-related quality of life was analyzed. We focused on the health concepts of emotional wellbeing and energy/fatigue in RAND 36 and used multiple logistic regression to analyze associations. Results: The levels of emotional wellbeing were significantly positively associated with the body mass index (BMI), and negatively associated with the frequency of falling, feeling of loneliness, worry about the future, and the level of pain/discomfort (p < 0.05). The levels of energy were also significantly positively associated with activity level and the level of independency in activities of daily living (ADL) (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Our study identifies several areas of concern for the mental health of older people with a high risk of hospitalization, making it possible to work proactively with these problem areas.
Funding Agencies|Linkoeping University; Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare (FORTE) [FORTE-2024-00477]; Region OEstergoetland and Region Joenkoepings laen, Swedish Research Council (ALF) [ROE-974820]; Medical Research Council of Southeastern Sweden (FORSS) [FORSS-969444, FORSS-995390]; Futurum-the Academy for Health and Care in Region Joenkoepings laen [FUTURUM-983243, 1015337]