Quality of life among an Iranian general population sample using the World Health Organization's quality of life instrument (WHOQOL-BREF).

OBJECTIVES

To assess subjective quality of life of an Iranian general population sample.

METHODS

This was a population-based study. Quality of life was measured using the WHOQOL-BREF. The associations between socio-demographic variables and quality of life were assessed by both univariate and multivariate analyses.

RESULTS

In all, 1,164 individuals were studied. The mean age of the participants was 37.6 (SD = 13.2) years, and the mean score for quality of life domains (physical, psychological, social relationship and environment domains) was 14.3 (SD = 2.6), 13.4 (SD = 2.6), 13.9 (SD = 2.6), and 12.3 (SD = 2.4), respectively. The results obtained from univariate analysis did not show a consistent pattern for association between demographic variables and quality of life domains. However, multivariate regression analysis showed that self-reported health condition was the most significant contributing factor to the decreased scores for all domains.

CONCLUSIONS

Overall, quality of life scores were found to be low among an Iranian general population and greatly varied by socio-demographic variables. In addition, self-reported health condition was found to be the strongest factor affecting people's quality of life.