Earthquake and Aging: Quality of Life and Its Determinants Among Older Persons After the Al-Haouz Earthquake in Morocco.

Overall quality of life among older persons six months after the Al-Haouz earthquake was moderately impaired.

• Mean overall quality of life score was 46.6 ± 6.6 on the WHOQOL-BREF scale
• Study involved 240 older persons aged 60 and older
• Cross-sectional study conducted six months after the earthquake at two health centers in Al Haouz, Morocco
• A structured questionnaire including the WHOQOL-BREF scale was used to assess quality of life

Social relationships was the highest-scoring quality of life domain, while physical health and environment were most negatively affected.

• Social relationships domain scored highest at 59.6 ± 13.0
• Physical health domain scored 43.8 ± 9.3
• Environment domain scored lowest at 41.5 ± 7.8
• These domain scores were assessed using the WHOQOL-BREF scale

Post-traumatic stress disorder was independently associated with lower quality of life after the earthquake.

• PTSD was measured using the PCL-5 scale
• In multivariate analysis, PTSD was significantly associated with lower quality of life (β = 0.098; p = 0.041)
• PTSD was one of three factors independently associated with impaired quality of life

Housing damage was independently associated with lower quality of life and showed the strongest association among identified factors.

• In multivariate analysis, housing damage was significantly associated with lower quality of life (β = 0.508; p < 0.001)
• Housing damage had the largest beta coefficient among the identified determinants
• This finding highlights the environmental dimension of post-earthquake quality of life impairment

Loss of a relative was independently associated with lower quality of life after the earthquake.

• In multivariate analysis, loss of a relative was significantly associated with lower quality of life (β = 0.262; p < 0.001)
• This was one of three contextual factors independently associated with impaired quality of life in the multivariate model

Satisfaction with social support was positively and independently associated with better quality of life.

• In multivariate analysis, satisfaction with social support was significantly associated with higher quality of life (β = -0.123; p = 0.010)
• The negative beta coefficient indicates that greater satisfaction with social support was associated with better (lower impairment in) quality of life
• Social support was the only factor positively associated with quality of life in the multivariate analysis