OBJECTIVE To investigate the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in elderly people and its association with factors
related to the economic crisis in Greece. METHOD The study included 352 elderly people at the six Open Care Centers
for the Elderly of the Municipality Pilea-Hortiatis in the northern Greek region of Macedonia. The Greek version
of the generic tool SF-36 was used to investigate the HRQoL, along with a questionnaire specially developed for the
collection of demographic, socioeconomic and health data, information about the degree of hardship due to the
economic crisis and self-assessment of the current and future economic situation of the participants. Literature re-view and a pilot study were carried out to ensure content validity of the tool. Test-retest reliability was evaluated with
Cohen’s kappa coefficient. The relationship of the demographic and other characteristics of the elderly with the general
scales of SF-36 was investigated using the Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis tests and Spearman correlation
coefficients. RESULTS The average scores of the elderly people on the general scales of the SF-36 were low. Factors
associated with the HRQoL scores included gender, age, and chronic health problems. The current economic crisis
in Greece has reduced the income of elderly people which has affected their purchasing behavior and ability to pay
bills. A moderate relationship was demonstrated between inability to pay bills and money shortages and poor mental
health. CONCLUSIONS The elderly population in this study was characterized by low levels of HRQoL as assessed
by the SF-36. Factors including economic hardship, money shortages and expectations of worsening economic conditions
appear to be related to a lowered HRQoL.