[Level of dependency and quality of life of elderly]

The quality of life (QoL) in older adults is largely determined by their functional status and health conditions. With the purpose of investigate the QoL and the factors affecting it, and identify the degree of dependency of the elderly was carried out an observational cross-sectional exploratory and descriptive, involving 93 elderly. In collecting data we used the Barthel Index and MOS SF-36. In the identification of levels of dependency results indicate us that 40.0% are independent and 18.0% are dependents, minimum being 12.0% total-dependent. The results show us that, 88.0% of the subjects reported a score below 50.0% on average reported a QoL of 39 ± 10.0%. Checking that are a positive correlation between the degree of dependence and the index of QoL, especially in the physical component. It is therefore important to promote healthy aging in an attempt to favor the preservation of autonomy and functional capacity of the elderly.