Quality of life and its correlates in Central India

Background: Perception about the health status of an individual is important for the Quality of life (QOL) and dayto-day productive functioning. Measuring health status in a population is important for the prediction of health and social care needs. Quality of life (QOL) studies are an essential complement to health evaluation. Objectives: (1)To Assess QOL and its correlates in Bhind district of M.P using the 26 item WHOQOL instrument (WHOQOL-bref); (2) Study the relationship of QOL with Interpersonal trust and various Socio-demographic variables. Methodology: A cross-section study on 505 subjects of the age group 20-45 years from Bhind district in central India was done. We studied the relationship between socio-demographic variables, interpersonal trust with each of four domains of the WHOQOL-BREF. Multivariate logistic regression model was constructed to find the correlates among them.Results: Higher education is associated with most of the domains of QOL. Subjects with low interpersonal trust (OR= 1.839, C.I. 1.275-2.653, p-value<.005) are twice more likely to have poor environmental domain score. Being married (OR=.556, CI .344-.901, p-value <.005) and not Living in a joint family (OR=.581, CI .379-.891, p-value <.005) isassociated with poor psychological health. Conclusion: QOL proved to be a sensitive tool for measuring subjective well being. Higher education is the best predictor for good QOL. Semiskilled workers (farmers and labourers) should be prioritized as high risk groups for adverse life situations. Interpersonal trust has a significant impact on QOL. So, policies directed at rural population should target at specific needs of community.