Abstract
PurposeDescribe the health-related quality of life for a representative cohort of women aged 18–55 in Northern Cyprus.MethodsWe utilised the SF-36-Health-Survey-version-2 (SF-36v2) questionnaire as part of the COHERE Initiative study to calculate the eight physical and mental subscale scores, as well as the two overall summary measures for physical and mental health, where we present results using Cyprus-specific scoring as well as scores based on the test developers’ algorithms. We examined associations between sociodemographic characteristics for both scores.ResultsA total of 7089 women fully completed the SF-36v2 questionnaire (mean age = 36.9), which was reliable and valid in this population. We observed better physical health in ages 18–25 compared to 46–55 (53.32 vs. 46.72 (p < 0.001)) and better mental health in women aged 46–55 compared to 18–25 (52.07 vs. 47.95 (p < 0.001)). Women in employment had better physical and mental health compared to those who were unemployed (physical: 50.25 vs 49.95, p < 0.001 and mental: 50.25 vs 49.24, p = 0.083) and scores increased as educational attainment increased (physical: 47.55 for primary to 51.58 for postgraduate, mental: 48.88 to 50.59, p < 0.001). Turkish Cypriot women had higher scores than Turkish women (physical: 50.42 vs 49.30, mental: 50.43 vs 49.10, p < 0.001).ConclusionThese are the first population normative values published from a large representative sample of women between 18 and 55 years from the Eastern Mediterranean region. We found better physical health in younger women and better mental health in older women. Turkish Cypriot women and non-migrant women had better mental health, and HRQOL was highest in those in paid employment and those with a higher educational achievement.
Highlights
Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) is important when exploring the general wellbeing of the population, as well to evaluate specific health states
All items were satisfactory when looking at differences between item-rest correlations and inter-scale correlations i.e. correlations were higher between individual items and their respective subscales, than between individual items and the other 7 subscales
Ceiling effects were highest in physical functioning and role physical subscales (39–42%) with the bodily pain subscale having the highest floor effect (1.20%)
Summary
Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) is important when exploring the general wellbeing of the population, as well to evaluate specific health states. There is much discussion surrounding whether it is appropriate to use weights that may not be culturally specific, especially when there are differences in health states. There is a lack of population-level health data from Northern Cyprus due to unresolved political circumstances [2, 3] and as a result, this part of the island is absent from any published health statistics from the region. There are no published studies that have provided population normative values in Cyprus for the SF-36, and it is inappropriate to use published values from other countries given the differences in healthcare. The study took part just after a major economic crisis which is likely to have had an impact on the mental health component of the quality of life scores
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