Health-related quality of life among Russians called up for military training

Relevance. Maintaining healthy mobilization reserves of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation is critical for the country’s defense capacities. Over the past decade, open-access studies on the health status and health-related quality of life among Russians called up for military training have been extremely scarce.
The objective is to assess health-related quality of life among Russians called up for military training.
Methods. An observational non-experimental analytical cross-field single-stage sample study was performed to assess health-related quality of life among Russian citizens called up for military training. The sample size included 88 observation units. The study relied on the short version of the WHO Quality of Life questionnaire (WHOQOL-BREF) as a principle research tool. In addition to absolute values, each domain scores were reported as % of the maximum possible score. In addition to the WHOQOL-BREF, the research utilized a standard questionnaire for chronic non-communicable diseases, associated risk factors, drug and psychotropic substance consumption without indication among the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. The data were presented as categorical and quantitative variables. Statistical analysis included the Kolmogorov-Smirnov criterion to ensure normal distribution of data and nonparametric statistics. The difference was significant when the Type I error probability was less than 5 % (p < 0.05).
Results and discussion. The quality of life study among Russians called up for military training in 2023 showed fairly high results (79.7 % of maximum possible value). Social well-being was the most vulnerable domain (73.9 %), with most critical problems to include monetary allowance (65.4 %), availability of recreation and entertainment facilities (68.2 %), and quality of medical care (70 %). Statics showed that quality of life scores were significantly dependent on the level of respondents’ income, presence of gastrointestinal diseases, and alcohol abuse.
Conclusions. The short version of the WHO quality of life questionnaire (WHOQOL-BREF) is an excellent and time-sparing screening tool allowing to reveal most critical health-related challenges affecting quality of life among Russian citizens called up for military training. By identifying subjects in need of extensive examination according to the guidance documents on medical care in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, the study results allow to improve early disease detection and preserve the health of country’s mobilization reserve.

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