Health-related quality of life and its influencing factors among rural Hui and Han ethnicity women in Ningxia

Objective To evaluate overall level and ethnic disparities in quality of life and related factors among rural women in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region(Ningxia).Methods A survey was conducted among 913 rural women and Euro Qol(EQ-5D) was used to measure their quality of life.Results The respondents reported higher impairments in all dimensions of EQ-5D(8.7%,5.6%,14.8%,42.4%,and 32.1%,respectively) than the national norm for females,among which pain/discomfort and anxiety/depression were most prevalent with a higher prevalence rate for Hui minorities(46.0% and 35.1%,respectively) compared to those of Han women(37.6% and 28.0%,respectively).Multiple logistic regression analyses showed that there were ethnic disparities in impairments for pain/discomfort and anxiety/depression that could be explained by the presence of chronic diseases and the presence of chronic diseases was a significant predictor for impairments in all five dimensions.Conclusion Health-related quality of life(HRQoL) is poor among rural women in Ningxia and there are ethnic disparities in HRQoL.The presence of chronic diseases is a major influcing factor of HRQoL and ethnic disparities in HRQoL.