An assessment of quality of life using the WHOQOL-BREF among participants living in the vicinity of wind turbines

Abstract

Living within the vicinity of wind turbines may have adverse impacts on health measures associated with quality of life (QOL). There are few studies in this area and inconsistent findings preclude definitive conclusions regarding the impact that exposure to wind turbine noise (WTN) may have on QOL. In the current study (officially titled the Community Noise and Health Study or CNHS), the World Health Organization QOL-BREF (WHOQOL-BREF) questionnaire provided an evaluation of QOL in relation to WTN levels among randomly selected participants aged 18-79 (606 males, 632 females) living between 0.25 and 11.22 km from wind turbines (response rate 78.9%). In the multiple regression analyses, WTN levels were not found to be related to scores on the Physical, Psychological, Social or Environment domains, or to rated QOL and Satisfaction with Health questions. However, some wind turbine-related variables were associated with scores on the WHOQOL-BREF, irrespective of WTN levels. Hearing wind turbines for less than one year (compared to not at all and greater than one year) was associated with improved (i.e. higher) scores on the Psychological domain (p=0.0108). Lower scores on both the Physical and Environment domains (p=0.0218 and p=0.0372, respectively), were observed among participants reporting high visual annoyance toward wind turbines. Personal benefit from having wind turbines in the area was related to higher scores on the Physical domain (p=0.0417). Other variables significantly related to one or more domains, included sex, age, marital status, employment, education, income, alcohol consumption, smoking status, chronic diseases and sleep disorders. Collectively, results do not support an association between exposure to WTN up to 46 dBA and QOL assessed using the WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire.

Assessment of Quality of Life and Drug Usage Among Haemodialysis Patients at A Tertiary Care Hospital

“…When kidneys fails to clean the blood, excess fluid, minerals, and harmful wastes build up in the body, which may result in raise in blood pressure, oedema and decrease in erythropoesis. [20] The two main causes of chronic kidney disease are diabetes mellitus and hypertension, which are responsible for up to two-thirds of the cases.…”

Clarifications on the Design and Interpretation of Conclusions from Health Canada’s Study on Wind Turbine Noise and Health

“…In their estimation of the burden of disease from environmental noise exposure, the WHO regional office for Europe has assigned a "conservative" disability weight of 0.02 to long-term high (transportation) noise annoyance, where 0 is equivalent to ideal health and 1 is equivalent to death [16]. Although a statistical association was found between high WTN annoyance and several reported and measured health endpoints in the CNHS, these were unrelated to the level of WTN exposure, and there is no way of determining if these conditions may have either pre-dated, and/or were possibly exacerbated by, exposure to wind turbines [1][2][3]7]. The extent to which long-term high noise annoyance may impact one's health is uncertain.…”

“…Thus, similar to epidemiological studies conducted in other areas, this study should be viewed Bearing in mind the stated strengths and limitations of the CNHS, the CNHS data support the general conclusion that beyond an increase in the prevalence of long-term high annoyance toward several wind turbine features [1], there was no evidence to support an association between WTN levels up to 46 dBA and any of the other self-reported or objectively measured health outcomes. Reported and measured health outcomes included, but were not limited to, migraines, dizziness, tinnitus, blood pressure, heart disease, stress, quality of life and multiple measures of sleep [1,3,7,8]. Conclusions based on objectively measured outcomes for measures of stress, blood pressure/heart rate and sleep have additional credibility insofar as they are not influenced by participant awareness bias, which is always something that researchers need to consider when relying solely on self-reported measures of health.…”

“…Reporting "dissatisfied" overall Satisfaction with Health reflects a response of "very dissatisfied" or "dissatisfied", and "satisfied" reflects a response of "neither satisfied nor dissatisfied", "satisfied" or "very satisfied". A detailed presentation of the results related to QoL is presented by reference [7] data point due to sample size within each WTN level category. Claims of a detectable trend in the data based solely on a linear regression line drawn through 4 data points are not supported as they do not reflect the variability (or precision) associated with each of these data points.…”

The impact of Clinical Pharmacist Lead Collaborative Care on Quality Of Life of the Patients with Bipolar Disorder: A Unicenter Prospective, Randomization Study

“…1,2 Globally, a good quality of life is an important and broad measure in compared to the health status of the persons' life aspect. 3 As per World Health Organization (WHO) quality of life is an individual perception of their position in life in the context of the culture and value sys- tem in which they live and relation to their goal, expectation, standards and concerns, 4 Bipolar disorder impairs quality of life of the patients through mood swings; personal suffering; disturbed familial support and uneven socio-economic functioning. 5 in India, out of 100,000 lack population 200 people are suffering from bipolar disorder in India.…”