Health-related quality of life in Chinese people: a population-based survey of five cities in China.
OBJECTIVE
The current study aimed at undertaking an investigation to describe health-related quality of life (HRQL) in Chinese people, with a Mandarin version of the 36-item short-form health survey (SF-36) validated.


METHODS
A total of 3,219 respondents were successfully interviewed under a randomized stratified multi-stage sampling design from April 2007 to January 2008 in five cities of mainland China. Self-finished interview method was applied and the Mandarin version of SF-36 was used for assessing HRQL.


RESULTS
As a result, the reliability and validity of SF-36 were acceptable, although some deviations from the hypothesized model still existed. The Chinese population scored higher than other populations in five of the eight SF-36 scales and Chinese men scored higher than women in six of the eight SF-36 scales.


CONCLUSIONS
Basically, the Mandarin version of SF-36 is a reliable instrument, although minor modifications are needed. The health-related quality of life in Chinese people were quite high based on the sample of five cities in China; further research is needed to establish the countrywide norm of health-related quality of life in mainland China.
Department of Health Statistics, Second Military Medical University, Shanghai, China.
Rui Wang
Cheng Wu
Xiu-Qiang
XQ
Ma
Yan-Fang
YF
Zhao
Xiao-Yan
XY
Yan
Jia He
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006306:Health Surveys / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017533:Marital Status; D008875:Middle Aged; D011788:Quality of Life; D012042:Registries; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014504:Urban Health; D055815:Young Adult