HEALTH RELATED QUALITY OF LIFE OF ADOLESCENTS LIVING IN THE YAMAL-NENETS AUTONOMOUS AREA

Abstract

Intensification of oil and gas has led to socio-economic development of the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Area (YaNAO) - one of the most northern regions of Russian raw materials, which contributed to improving life standard of living here people, and the reduction of social well-being and quality of life (QOL) of indigenous people. Development of the YaNAO was followed by mass inflow of human resources of mainly fertile age that led to rapid growth of the children's and adolescent's population - labor potential of the region's strategic development. Purpose: to give an assessment of risks of health problems and health-related QOL of the adolescents living in the Yamal's territory. Objects: 58 adolescents - the indigenous Nenets and the 26 - rooted inhabitants. The assessment of risks of health problems was carried out by means of the automated system of a quantitative assessment of risks of the major pathology syndromes (MPS). The PedsQL 4.0 Generic Core tool was used for the health-related QOL assessment. Mathematical-statistical data processing was carried out by means of Statistica 8. In the group of Nenets, proportion of individuals with low MPS exceeded the proportion of individuals with high and extremely high (53,5% against 31,0 and 15,5p = 0.014 and p=0,000 correspondingly). Nenets differed in lower levels of risks of arterial hypertension (0,12 and 0,34 in young men, p=0,004); coronary heart disease, functional violations of respiratory organs, neurologic violations, and boundary mental disorders (0,22 and 0,53 in young men, p=0,012; 0,48 and 0,79 in girls, p=0,027; 0,36 and 0,66 on the whole, p=0,002). The MPS levels at young men were lower, than at girls regardless of an ethnic origin: among Nenets- arterial hypertension (0,12 and 0,36, p=0,001), liver functional disease (0,14 and 0,37, p=0,021), boundary mental disorders (0,22 and 0,48, p=0,013), among rooted inhabitants- functional gastrointestinal disorders (0,19 and 0,49, p=0,021). The QOL of all examined adolescents was characterized by high indicators of physical and social functioning. In general indices of the health-related QOL were higher in Nenets adolescents, than in rooted inhabitants. Further research is necessary and the attention should be paid not only on subjective but also an objective assessment of health status to analyze their interactions.