الفهرس 
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Abstract
Old age, occurring in all living creatures without differentiation, is a continuous and universal process causing decreases in all functions. The elderly populations are increasing rapidly. These demographic changes are a direct result of the success of socio-economic development that has led to a decline in mortality rates at all ages and a reduction in fertility. Ageing does not influence quality of life (QOL) negatively, and a long period of good quality of life is possible. Therefore, the maintenance and improvement of the quality of life become important issues (Elizabeth Scott, 2018).
As regards socio-economic characteristics of the studied retired elderly, the findings of the present study showed that less than half of them had age ranged between 60-65 years, although there were statistical significant differences between QOL domains and age of the studied elderly except financial circumstance this is supported by Naing et al., (2015), who study quality of life of the elderly people in Einme and found that less than half of the retired elderly were age 60-65 years. This finding agrees with Prior et al., (2012) who study the influence of chronic diseases on long-term change in physical health and found that less than half of the studied retired elderly had age between 60-69 years. Advanced age was found to affect significantly QOL of the elders. This is because advanced age is usually associated with limitations in self-care, decreased ability to perform basic tasks, and conversely lower the QOL level.
Regarding the sex, the present study revealed that less than two thirds of them were females and more than one third of them were males and there were statistical significant differences between QOL domains and sex of the studied retired elderly. This result supported by Lima et al., (2009) who study the impact of chronic disease on quality of life among the elderly in the state of São Paulo, Brazil and found that the females were slightly more than in the elderly males. As the results was disagreement with (Ibrahim, 2015), who study the impact of ostomy of the quality of life Egyptian patient and explained the findings of this study in which the studied retired elderly men had better QOL than the elderly women. In addition, it was observed that males complained of a more deterioration in their health status than females.
Concerning the place of residence, results revealed that less than one third of them were living in the rural areas and more than two thirds of them were living in urban areas.
Regarding their level of education, it was observed that illiteracy can read and write have the lowest percentage in studied sample, while highest percentage had secondary and university education because the all of them had employed that can effect of education on QOL, and added that low educational levels of the elders can lead to inadequate follow up pattern or even neglecting this important issue, which can affect in a negative way the health and accordingly the QOL of elders.
According to the social class level, it was noticed that the majority of the studied elderly were with middle social class level and clear relation between QOL domains among studied retired elderly and their social class. Also, supported with Krause, (2014) Their life situation- results of a qualitative study, added that poor quality of life and well-being is most common among elders suffering from low income, chronic illness, and lack of informal family support to assist in their care.
Regarding to the income, it was noticed that three quarters of the studied sample had income 1000- < 1800 pound. The quality of life score of those elders which they were higher socioeconomic status was greater than those which had lower socioeconomic status. Breeze’s (2014) study supported the previous findings and added that poor income of the elders can lead to inadequate follow up pattern or even neglecting this important issue, which can affect in a negative way of health and accordingly the QOL of elders.
This result was the same as that of Lima et al., (2009), who stated that elderly with high socioeconomic status were more retirement pay and saving, permitting them to be more autonomous financially, thus enjoying a better quality of life. In addition, socioeconomic status is an important predicator of quality of life; therefore, those elderly who have lower socioeconomic status need more attention.
As regards chronic diseases, the present study found that nearly three quarters of the studied retired elderly had chronic diseases. It may be related to lack of health awareness and follow up, or lack of availability or acceptability of health resources and increase of economy of drugs & investigation and family history. This finding is inconsistent with the study conducted in Brazil by Melchiors et al., (2010) who study quality of life in hypertensive patients and concurrent validity of Minichal-Brazil, and found that (31.4%) of the studied sample had chronic diseases.
The present result illustrates the distribution of retired elderly according their quality of life domains. Regarding life overall, about three quarters of the patients studied retired elder reported that they had agree about a feeling of enjoy of their life overall in health domain, and more than half of them had agree about pain affects your well-being. These findings are consistent with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, 2017) which reported that older adults suffer the highest rates of poor physical health and activity limitation.
Also, in the same line with Akinyemi and Aransiola, (2010) who conduct study in South-Western Nigeria, and found that the majority of the elderly reported being easily tired and powerless due to their sedentary life and lacking of activity which lead to sleeping disturbance .