Vojnosanitetski pregled 2014 Volume 71, Issue 8, Pages: 751-756
https://doi.org/10.2298/VSP1408751L
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Cited by
Medical students` health-related quality of life - a comparative study
Latas Milan (Faculty of Medicine, Belgrade + Clinical Center of Serbia, Clinic for Psychiatry, Belgrade)
Stojković Tihomir (Faculty of Medicine, Belgrade)
Ralić Tijana (Faculty of Medicine, Belgrade)
Jovanović Svetlana (Faculty of Dental Medicine, Department of Public Health, Belgrade)
Špirić Željko (University of Defence, Military Medical Academy and Faculty of Medicine of the Military Medical Academy, Clinic for Psychiatry, Belgrade)
Milovanović Srđan (Faculty of Medicine, Belgrade + Clinical Center of Serbia, Clinic for Psychiatry, Belgrade)
Background/Aim. Previous studies on medical students’ subjective perception
of health and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) showed inconclusive
results. Moreover, there are no published studies to compare HRQoL of medical
students to non-medical university students. The aim of the study was to
assess subjective perception of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in
medical students’ sample, to compare it with non-medical university stu-dents
and to ascertain predictors of better perception of HRQoL in medical
students. Methods. Scores of all domains on the Mental and Physical Component
Summary subscales and total score of the Short Form Health Survey (SF-36),
used for assessment of HRQoL in samples of 561 medical and 332 non-medical
university students were assessed and compared. In addition, linear
regression to identify predictors of better perception of mental and physical
components of HRQoL and overall HRQoL in the sample of medical students was
used. The dependant variables were subscores and total score with the SF- 36,
and independent variables were certain sociodemographic and academic
characteristics of the students. Results. Medical students had statistically
significantly higher scores on the Mental Component Summary and total SF-36
score compared to non-medical students. Linear regression analysis
demonstrated that higher scores of Physical Component Summary were associated
with age, male sex and the year of studies. The Mental Component Summary were
associated with age, male sex, the year of studies and marital status. The
total SF-36 score was associated with age, male sex and the year of studies.
Conclusion. Medical students perceive their health much better than other
university students do, but female, older and second grade medical students
have worse perception of their HRQoL. Those points should be potential target
areas for specific prevention and treatment in order to achieve better HRQoL.
Keywords: quality of life, students, medical, students, Serbia, health, psychiatric status rating scales, questionnaires