Study on health-related quality of life perception among Nepalese

Perception about the health status of an individual is important for the quality of life (QOL) and day-to-day productive functioning. Present study was carried out on the perception status QOL of Nepalese (aged 10 to 80 years) using SF-36v2 questionnaire. A total of 788 Nepalese (322; 40.9% were males and 466; 59.1% were females) living in Kathmandu Valley were included. More than half were Bahun/Chhetri (Hindu upper caste people) (n=437; 55.5%) followed by Adibashi Janajati (Indigenous nationalities) and Dalits (Hindu lower caste people). Males had significantly higher scores for physical functioning (t = 5.277, df = 780, p = 0.00), bodily pain (t = 2.811, df = 780, p = 0.05) and vitality (t = 3.78, df = 780, p = 0.00) but not with regard to mental health (t = 1.43, df = 780, p = 0.153). This was true for all age groups. No significant difference was observed in role physical, general health, social functioning and role emotional. Dalits had significantly low score regarding physical functioning compared with Bahun/Chhetri and Adibashi Janajati (f = 9.005, P = 0.000). However, they had positive perceptions regarding the general health (f = 8.408, P = 0.000) and social functioning (f = 13.216, P = 0.000). Genderwise difference was observed in physical, mental and social perception and activities compared with their male counterparts, and were found to be significantly decreasing with the increase of age (p = 0.05-0.00). These findings suggested that there are significant differences in the perceptions of different groups of people in Nepal.