Evaluation of health-related quality of life of women living in a city center in the east of Turkey

Aim: To evaluate the health-related quality of life of women living in Van city center by SF-36 and its association with the women's characteristics. Materials and methods: The women (n = 1527) answered a questionnaire through a face-to-face interview, and some measurements were made. The variations of physical component score (PCS) and mental component score (MCS) of SF-36 were investigated by non-parametric tests, and by linear regression analysis. Results: The percentage of early marriages among married women was 55.6. Number of pregnancies per married woman was 4.5 +/- 2.8, the lowest mean in vitality (44.0 +/- 20.6) and the highest mean in physical functioning (73.2 +/- 28.2) components of SF-36. The women's means on PCS was 43.7 +/- 11.4, and on MCS was 37.2 +/- 8.9. In regression analysis, the age of marriage, the number of live births, and presence of still birth-spontaneous miscarriage, and BMI were associated with PCS; the age of marriage, smoking cigarette, physical exercise and BMI were associated with MCS. Conclusion: Policies to improve the status of women and interventions for reproductive health and for promotion of healthy behavior are needed to enhance the HRQOL of women living in the city of Van.