Perceived health and its relation with macrosocial and individual factors in children from two departments of Tucumán, Argentina.

INTRODUCTION The assessment of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) during childhood favors the identification of factors that affect growth and development. The objectives of this study were: a) to describe the HRQoL in children between 8.0 and 11.9 years old living in the Province of Tucuman; and b) to assess whether the HRQoL varies in relation to macrosocial (quality of life in the department, urban/rural household, socioeconomic status) and individual (age and sex) factors. POPULATION AND METHODS Quantitative and cross-sectional study among students from the departments of Yerba Buena and Simoca. The KIDSCREEN-52 questionnaire was administered to measure the HRQoL dimensions, and Student" s t tests, analysis of variance and multivariate logistic regression analysis to evaluate the data according to macrosocial and individual factors. RESULTS A total of 1647 surveys were analyzed. Younger students and of male sex, in general, had a better perception of their health. Yerba Buena residents had mean scores that were significantly lower in the financial resources dimension, as compared to residents of Simoca (45.3 vs. 46.7, p: 0.01). There was no association between the socioeconomic status and the HRQoL. Children from rural areas had the lowest scores in most dimensions, with significant differences in selfperception (51.3 vs. 53.0, p: 0.01) and mood (43.2 vs. 44.5, p: 0.03). CONCLUSIONS Perceived health of children from Yerba Buena and Simoca varied in relation to macrosocial and individual factors. In Yerba Buena, the perception of financial resources was worse than in Simoca. In general, the opinion of children from urban areas was more favorable than that of children from rural areas. Younger students and of male sex had a better perception of their health status.