Quality of life and risk factors for chronic non-communicable diseases among physicians in Tomsk Oblast

Objective - To investigate the frequency and influence of risk factors (RF) for chronic non-communicable diseases (CNCD) on the quality of life (QoL) among physicians in Tomsk Oblast, depending on their gender, specialty and place of residence. Material and Methods - The study involved 1,668 physicians from 76 medical institutions. To determine the frequency of RF for CNCD, we employed the questionnaire, Monitoring of Risk Factors for Chronic Non-Communicable Diseases in Practical Healthcare. The QoL level was assessed using the Russian-language version of WHOQOL-BREF. Results - When assessing QoL, the overall value for physicians was 56.7 +/- 10.3. The highest average value was obtained in the domain of social relations (68.81 points), whereas the lowest, in the domain of physical health (51.56 points). At the same time, there were no statistically significant differences in the QoL level depending on residence and gender. When studying the effect of RF on QoL, we established that psychological health was higher among doctors without excess body weight living outside the metropolitan area of Tomsk Oblast (54.17 vs. 58.33; p=0.016). Among female physicians with normal body weight, QoL was higher in the physical health and psychological health domains (51.03 vs. 52.25, p=0.04, and 56.36 vs. 57.79, p=0.04, respectively). For internists, QoL in the psychological health domain was higher for doctors without excess body weight (56.34 vs. 58.54, p=0.017). In diagnosticians, QoL in psychological health domain and environmental factors domain was higher among those who adhered to a rational diet (56.57 vs. 61.50, p=0.01, and 51.82 vs. 56.33, p=0.03, correspondingly). Conclusion - The survey has demonstrated low values of the QoL parameters in healthcare workers with a weak association with RF for CNCD. Hence, additional research is needed to identify the factors shaping the QoL formation in this social category.