In the ELSA sample prevalence of depression was about 24% and the influence of depression was the highest among all the predictors of CASP-19; in the depressed CASP-19 scores dropped by 5.5 points. In comparison, the next biggest influence, functional limitations, reduced CASP-19 scores by about two points.
2.8 USES OF QUALITY OF LIFE The discussion about quality of life was started more than two millennia ago by Aristotle, but we are still arguing about what it means? Aristotelian concept of good life is not only something to live for but also something to live by. This is truer at older ages where living can be described in terms of strategies for maintaining quality of life. As the review above shows most of them have mastered the art of developing such strategies. For the clinician this is the clue to include quality of life into goals of patient management. The difficulty lies in assigning a clinically meaningful value for the difference in some particular quality of life score one should aim for after an intervention. For the patient such a value would be the minimum change they perceive as beneficial and would indicate the need for change in their management to