PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AS AN IMPORTANT FACTOR IN IMPROVING HEALTH IN THE ELDERLY WITH TYPE 2 DIABETES

The goal of the study was to research the level of the quality of life as a whole and within certain domains, the level of physical activity, and to establish the correlation between physical activity and the quality of life in the elderly suffering from type 2 diabetes and the elderly not suffering from from type 2 diabetes in the Republic of Croatia. Quantitative methodology was used in the research. 120 examinees from 65 to 93 years of age participated in the rand were divided into two groups. The study used a sociodemographic  questionnaire for the examinees, WHOQOL-bref questionnaire for the evaluation of the quality of life and PASE questionnaire for the evaluation of the physical activity level in the elderly.In accordance with the set goals, this research established that the perceived quality of life in the elderly does not deviate from the values to be found in the healthy population. The greatest value within the total sample was taken by the domain of satisfaction with the environmental domain, while the satisfaction with the social relations had the lowest average value compared to the other domains. The range of index ITM results amounts to 18.90 to 46.77 with the mean value of 26.47. Persons with type 2 diabetes have a low level of estimated bodily activity and do not participate in any activities such as walking or moving lasting for longer periods of time or being of a higher intensity, which is due to the primary disease.