Determinants of health related quality of life in school-going adolescents in Northern India

Objective: To identify determinants of good Health Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) in school going adolescents. Methods: This Cross-sectional study was conducted in public and private schools in Lucknow, Northern India after obtaining institutional ethical clearance. Children aged 10 to 19 years were included after obtaining parental written informed consent. HRQoL was assessed using culturally appropriate WHOQOL-BREF version. Results: From 1900 schools in Lucknow, 10 public and 10 private schools were selected. Within schools, random selection of the subjects was done. Dropout rate was 7.2% (525/566). Mean age of participants was 14.04±2.09 years, of which 52.4% (275/525) were boys and 48.5% (255/525) were from private schools. Good HRQoL was a score =83, which corresponded to third quartile, and 33.7% and 16.6% of subjects, from private and public schools, respectively, fell in this category (p-value <0.0001). Determinants of good HRQoL on multivariate analysis were age <14 years (OR: 2.11, 95%CI 1.39-3.02, p<0.0001) and studying in private school (OR = 2.04, 95%CI 1.18-3.51, p<0.0001). Conclusions: Younger adolescent age and enrolment in private schools are determinants of good HRQoL in school-going adolescents. Further research is needed to identify measures to improve HRQoL among older adolescents and those studying in public schools