[Health-related quality of life in women working in the fishing industry measured through the Short-Form 36 questionnaire].

OBJECTIVE To determine health-related quality of life (HRQoL) measured with the 36-item Short-Form (SF-36) questionnaire in women workers in the fishing industry, compared with norm-based values in the reference population and other similar samples of persons with musculoskeletal disorders. METHOD A cross-sectional study was performed to measure HRQoL in 917 shellfish gatherers. Women taking part in a physiotherapy workshop were invited to participate. We used a self-administered questionnaire, including questions on sociodemographic variables, lifestyle, comorbidity, the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders, and HRQoL. For the SF-36 raw scores, norm-based scores and z-scores were calculated. RESULTS The mean age of participants was 50.6 years (standard deviation: 8.8). In all dimensions of the SF-36, values in the sample were lower than in the general reference population. The greatest differences were in younger people. The most affected dimensions were bodily pain, vitality and general health. Physical health was more affected than mental health. CONCLUSIONS HRQoL, especially physical components, was worse in women shellfish gatherers than in the general population and other population samples.