Analysis of the quality of life in the population living under post-war conditions

Introduction. Biomedical assessment of the quality of life (QOL) is a methodological tool that allows identifying the degree of human adaptation to changing functional states and environmental factors. For the first time we tried to analyze the population’s QOL in post-war conditions.

Methods and materials. The study was managed within the framework of scientific project over 2021–2022 (a year after the end of the military events in the region), one hundred eighty Nagorno-Karabakh 16 to 60 years residents of both genders have been tested using a modified version of SF-36 questionnaire.

Results. The average values of the population’s QOL indicators for the SF-36 questionnaire scales varies from 59.5 (the vital activity and mental health) to 84.2 points (physical functioning). Gender-age features of the QOL level declined the role-playing emotional functioning in females and a diminished the values of general health, vitality and social functioning by the second adulthood. Having grouped all the scales into two indicators — the physical (PH) and mental (MH) components of health, the latter turned out to be lower than the values of the separate components of these elements. In general, the entire population had a low level of MH (43.7 points), compared with PH (49.7 points).

Limitations. The study has age (youthful and middle), regional (Nagorno-Karabakh) and temporary (at the present stage) limitations.

Conclusion. The obtained regional population QOL standards in the post-war conditions can be designated as the phenomenon of Nagorno-Karabakh, which can serve as a scientific and practical basis for further research.

Compliance with ethical standards. The study was approved by the local ethics committee of Yerevan State Medical University after Mkhitar Heratsi, conducted in accordance with the ethical standards of the Declaration of Helsinki of the World Association “Ethical Principles for Conducting Scientific Medical Research Involving Humans”.

Patient consent. Each participant of the study (or his/her legal representative) gave informed voluntary written consent to participate in the study and publish personal medical information in an impersonal form in the journal "Gigiena i Sanitariya (Hygiene and Sanitation, Russian journal)".

Contribution:
Mardiyan М.А. — concept and design of the study, editing, approval of the article final version;
Sargsyan A.V. — collection and processing of material;
Sahakyan A.A. — collection and processing of material;
Galstyan H.G. — statistical data processing, writing the text, responsibility for the integrity of the article’s all parts.
All authors are responsible for the integrity of all parts of the manuscript and approval of the manuscript final version.

Conflict of interest. The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Acknowledgment. The work was supported by the Science Committee of RA, in the frames of the research project № 21АА-02.

Received: September 9, 2022 / Accepted: December 8, 2022 / Published: February 15, 2023