Objective  To examine the quality of life (QOL) and its influencing factors among rural elderly in five counties of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region (Ningxia), and to provide references for improving the QOL of rural elderly.

  Methods  We extracted information on 2 595 rural residents aged 60 years and above in five counties of Ningxia from the follow-up data of the Household Survey on Health Among Rural Residents in 2015. The Euro-Quality of Life-5 Dimension (EQ-5D) was adopted to assess the QOL of the participants and influencing factors of QOL were analyzed.

  Results  Of the participants averagely aged 67.85 ± 6.33 years, 1 379 (53.1%) were male and 1 216 (46.9%) were female. Among the participants, 48.3%, 35.2%, 33.0%, 26.9%, and 21.8% reported having problems in pain/discomfort, mobility, usual activities, anxiety/depression, and self-care, respectively; the self reported average visual analog score (VAS) for general health condition was 62.08 ± 17.46. The QOL and VAS score of the participants were significantly influenced by gender, age and chronic disease status based on both univariate and multivariate analysis (all P < 0.05); while education and marital status were significant impact factors only in univariate analysis (P < 0.05 for all).

  Conclusion  The quality of life is relatively poor and mainly influenced by chronic disease status among rural elderly in five counties of Ningxia; the results suggest that countermeasures are needed to promote the quality of life in the population.