Housing conditions and quality of life among older adults with functional limitations living at home: a cross-sectional study from Japan Gerontological Evaluation Study-Home Care

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between housing conditions and the quality of life (QOL) of older adults with functional limitations in Japan.

Cross-sectional data from the Japan Gerontological Evaluation Study-Home Care was used to analyze a total of 3202 Japanese older adults (mean age 85.3 years) certified under the long-term care insurance in Japan and living at home, excluding those living in institutional settings. Housing conditions were assessed using the Comprehensive Assessment System for Built Environment Efficiency housing health checklist, along with two QOL indicators: EuroQol 5 dimension (EQ-5D) and World Health Organization-five well-being index (WHO-5). Liner regression analyses were performed to examine the associations between housing conditions and QOL, adjusting for 28 covariates. Additionally, we analyzed the associations between each sub-item of housing conditions, including cooling, heating, noise or vibration, odors, lighting, and safety, and QOL.

The average EQ-5D was 0.512 ± 0.222, and the average WHO-5 score was 9.5 ± 5.6. After adjusting for potential covariates, higher scores in housing conditions were significantly associated with higher scores in EQ-5D (unstandardized coefficient 0.0075, 95% confidence interval 0.0058–0.0091) and WHO-5 scores (0.28, 0.23–0.33).

The findings suggested that better overall housing conditions were associated with a higher QOL. Specifically, the lighting and smelly environments within homes were more strongly associated with QOL. These findings highlight the importance of controlling these factors to enhance the QOL for older adults with functional limitations.