Quality of life for men of different ages in the European Russian North and its relationship with self-rated health and hormonal status

Resumo

Assessment of the quality of life in male inhabitants of the European Russian North revealed decreased indices of the physical health component (the scale of role functioning determined by physical condition) and mental health component (the scales of social-role functioning and role functioning determined by emotional state and mental health) as compared to the inhabitants of Siberia as a control (comparison) group. Men aged under 29 had the highest scores at all scales. The scores decreased with age. The greatest reduction was observed for the scales of general well-being and bodily pain. There was a moderate decrease for the scales of physical functioning, role functioning determined by emotional state, and role functioning determined by physical condition. Quality of life was closely related to the northerners’ self-rated health, pathology index, molecular marker of aging, and biological age. A negative correlation between these values implies deterioration in the physical and mental health with biological age. The quality of life for the northerners also correlated with their hormonal status. There was a relationship between testosterone and three scales of physical health components, i.e., between cortisol and one scale of physical component and between both dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate and insulin and the scales of physical and mental components of health. The effect of various hormones on different age groups of northerners was demonstrated.