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Health-related quality of life and perceived health status of Turkish population

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Abstract

Purpose

This study was conducted to assess the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and perceived health status of the Turkish population.

Methods

The data came from a nationwide survey, which was conducted by Ministry of Health on prevalence and risk factors for chronic diseases in Turkey, with a representative random sample of 18,477 people aged ≥ 15 years from Turkey. Each family physician invited two individuals selected from their registered population to the Family Health Center, conducted the survey by face to face interviews using an electronic form. HRQOL was determined using EQ-5D-3L scale.

Results

In Turkish population, each four women out of 10, two men out of 10 have problems in pain/discomfort and anxiety/depression dimensions of the scale; three women out of 10, one man out of 10 have some or severe problems in mobility. Proportion of people without health problems (health state 11,111) were 64,1% in men, 40,7% in women. The mean VAS score for males was 71.5 ± 0.2 (95% CI 70.9–72.1), 66.4 ± 0.2 (95% CI 65.8–66.9) for females (p < 0.05).The most important determinants of having a problem in any of the five dimensions are age, gender, education, diabetes mellitus, coronary heart disease, stroke, alzheimer, cancer, renal failure. The OR of having some or severe problems in any dimensions was 4.6 (95% CI 38–5.4) for over 65–74 and 7.5 (95% CI 5.8–9.6) for over 75 compared to 15–24 age group.

Conclusions

The perceived health level and HRQOL is worse in women, in older age groups, in people from lower socioeconomical status.

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Funding

The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This study was financially supported by the Ministry of Health of Turkey. Funding was provided by World Bank Group (Grant No. LN- 7717- TU).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, Izmir University of Economics, Izmir, Turkey

    Gönül Dinç Horasan

  2. Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Faculty of Health Sciences,, Bandirma Onyedi Eylul University, Balikesir, Turkey

    Kevser Tarı Selçuk

  3. Department of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, Koç University, Istanbul, Turkey

    Sibel Sakarya

  4. Department of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, Katip Celebi University, Izmir, Turkey

    Kaan Sözmen

  5. Department of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, Dokuz Eylul University, Izmir, Turkey

    Gül Ergör & Belgin Ünal

  6. Republic of Turkey Ministry of Health Turkish Public Health Institution, Ankara, Turkey

    Nazan Yardım, Gülay Sarıoğlu, Meltem Soylu, Bekir Keskınkılıç, Turan Buzgan, Ünal Hülür, Halil Ekinci & Banu Ekinci

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  1. Gönül Dinç Horasan
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Correspondence to Gönül Dinç Horasan.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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We used data from the Chronic Diseases and Risk Factors Survey, 2011, conducted by the Turkish Ministry of Health. Thus, formal ethical clearance was not required.

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It were obtained before data collection.

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Dinç Horasan, G., Tarı Selçuk, K., Sakarya, S. et al. Health-related quality of life and perceived health status of Turkish population. Qual Life Res 28, 2099–2109 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-019-02167-z

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