Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the current state and trends of factors influencing the quality of life in low- income elders living at home. Methods: To carry out this study we established the patient, intervention, comparison, outcomes (PICO) strategy, reviewed 241 published documents from both national and international electronic databases, and finally selected 9 references based on inclusion and exclusion criteria alone. The quality of selected references was assessed using 15 questions. Two reviewers independently examined titles and abstracts and assessed whether each met the predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Results: The following factors were significantly associated with quality of life in low- income elders: (1) demographic factors such as number of children, income, and age; (2) health - related factors such as joint exercise capacity, activities of daily living/instrumental activities of daily living, health perception, health promotion behavior, and depression; and (3) socio environmental factors such as family support, community-based service program, leisure activity, and the number of neighborhoods involved. Conclusion: The results of our study provide a definite basis for the development of a policy strategy to improve the quality of life in elders with low income and we hence strongly recommend that any strategy to improve the quality of life in low-income elders be based on the results of our study.