Margin in life among hospitalized and non-hospitalized elderly persons

This study compared six dimensions of adult life among 39 hospitalized elders with a mean age of 72.1 years and 44 elders with a mean age of 75.7 years living in the community. The dimensions of life were physical function, work, spirituality, family, community and self concept. Multivariate analysis of variance revealed that the patterns of the subscales did not significantly differ between the groups. Except for the outside interest factor of the community subscale, univariate analysis of variance revealed no significant differences between hospitalized and community elders.