QUALITY OF LIFE AMONG ETHNIC MINORTY ELDERLY IN VIETNAM: IMPLICATIONS FOR PUBLIC HEALTH POLICY

Quality of Life Among Ethnic Minorty Elderly in Vietnam

Abstract

The study explored the quality of life of ethnic minority elderly in Vietnam and associated factors employing a cross-sectional design. Elderly of 12 main ethnic minorities were recruited across domains of socioeconomic information and all dimensions in an EQ-5D-5L questionnaire. Overall quality of life index of ethnic minority elderly was 0.81, with 30% of the elderly reporting no problems in each dimension. Advancing age, having communicable diseases and non-communicable diseases are significantly associated with a negative impact on EQ-5D-5L score (? = -0.011, 95% confidence interval (CI): -0.013 to -0.008, p-value <0.001; ? = -0.098, 95% CI: -0.162 to -0.035, p-value = 0.002; and ? = -0.092, 95% CI: -0.134 to -0.051, p-value <0.001, respectively). In conclusion, notably high quality of life index in ethnic minority older people should be of great interest in public health policy and further studies are needed to address possible explanations to enable the most appropriate intervention model be developed for optimal quality of life of the elderly in Vietnam.