Quality of life of arsenicosis patients in an arsenic-affected rural area in Bangladesh.

The objective of this cross-sectional comparative study was to assess quality of life (QOL) of arsenicosis patients. A total of 104 arsenicosis patients, 104 arsenic-exposed individuals without arsenicosis (nonpatients), and 104 individuals not exposed to arsenic (controls) were interviewed based on a questionnaire constructed based on the WHOQOL-BREF instrument. The facets of life considered for assessing QOL were physical health domain, psychological domain, social relationships domain, and environment domain. All the domain-wise QOL scores of the arsenicosis patients were significantly smaller than those of the controls as well as of the nonpatients. The findings of the study assessing QOL of arsenicosis patients might be helpful to understand the condition and justify for the policy makers to adopt adequate measures to alleviate the sufferings through prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation.