Health-related Quality of Life and Its Changes of the Tibetan Population in China: Based on the 2013 and 2018 National Health Services Surveys

Overview

Journal BMJ Open

Specialty General Medicine

Date 2023 Nov 20

PMID 37984958

Authors

Lei Dou

Zhao Shi

Zhaxi Cuomu

Cidan Zhuoga

Chaofan Li

Zhaxi Dawa

Shunping Li

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Objective: Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) was an important health outcome measure for evaluating an individual's overall health status. However, there was limited in the literature on HRQoL and its long-term changes of the Tibetan population. This study aimed to assess HRQoL of Tibetan and its changes over time, and explore the differences in HRQoL for residents at different altitudes.

Design: Data for the cross-sectional study were extracted from the fifth and sixth waves of the National Health Services Surveys which were conducted in 2013 and 2018. A multistage stratified cluster random sampling strategy was used to select representative participants.

Setting: Tibet Autonomous Region in China.

Participants: This study recruited 14 752 participants in 2013 and 13 106 participants in 2018, and after excluding observations with missing values for key variables, 10 247 in 2013 and 6436 in 2018 were included in the study analysis.

Primary And Secondary Outcome Measures: The EQ-5D-3L was used to measure participants' HRQoL.

Results: The mean health state utility scores of the participants were 0.969±0.078 and 0.966±0.077 in 2013 and 2018, respectively. Pain/discomfort was the most frequently prevalent issue reported in 18.1% and 17.9% of the participants in 2013 and 2018, respectively. Tibetans living 3500-4000 m altitude had the best HRQoL. Age, sex, employment status, educational attainment, chronic disease and weekly physical exercise were influencing factors associated with HRQoL.

Conclusions: The HRQoL of the Tibetan population was lower than the general Chinese population, and decreased over time between 5 years. There were differences in HRQoL among Tibetan at different altitudes, with residents living at 3500-4000 m having the best quality of life. More attention should be paid to those Tibetans who are older, female, unemployed and without formal education.

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