Background: Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is a multi-dimensional concept that includes domains related to physical, mental, emotional, and social functioning. Recent research on health inequalities shows that social inequalities in health are a scientific, academic, research, political and social issue. Poverty reduction, effective health care for citizens and improved quality of life are long-term objectives for ensuring social and economic cohesion. The aim of the paper is to present the review of the literature of population and community studies that have used the SF36 tool to investigate the quality of life in the general population. Methods: Systematic review of articles in SCOPUS database collates the findings of the studies which have investigated the quality of life in the general population. The main inclusion criteria were: The use of SF-36, study being in Europe in-between 2011-2017. Results: Eighteen studies (n=18) met the inclusion criteria. The search revealed studies from different European countries. Most of the studies used cross-sectional design. The sample size and sampling varied between the studies. Factors that appear to be associated with low quality of life related to health included, female gender, older age, low education, lower occupational classes, reduced income and some health behaviors such as smoking, alcohol consumption, lack of physical activity and obesity. Conclusion: Inequalities affect everyone. Conditions that lead to marked health disparities are detrimental to all members of society. Public and community health nursing advocate for a healthy society established on a foundation of social justice.

Background Social inequalities in health threaten social cohesion and their investigation is an important research field. Monitoring the health of the population is necessary to identify health needs, design programs focused in people’s needs and to evaluate the effectiveness of health policies. Methods A cross-sectional survey using primary data was applied. The study investigated the size and the extent of social inequalities in quality of life and health behaviours in Limassol, Cyprus. Data collection was done door-to-door in the form of survey interviews. The sample consisted of 450 residents aged 45–64 across 45 randomly selected neighbourhoods, that met the selection criteria. The tools used were: Demographic questionnaire, SF 36 Questionnaire, IPAQ- International Physical Activity Questionnaire short form. Results The social gradient appears in all social indicators. Physical dimension of health has a strong relationship between health-related quality of life with the education index. Specifically, the range is 12 points for males and 14 points for females (p for interaction = 0.16). Profession systematically appears to have a stronger relationship with men than with women, and is present in both physical and mental dimensions. The range is 13 points for men and 10 points for women (p for interaction = 0.31). Conclusions It seems that young highly educated males, employed full time, earning high income and engaging in mild physical activity, have significantly higher level of health-related life quality, compared to other middle age adult groups, living in Limassol. This finding is in agreement with other studies that show correlations between gender and the patterns of risk factors.

Socioeconomic position (SEP) refers to the relative place an individual or a social group holds within the structure of society. SEP is determined by a multitude of factors, from individual and household circumstances across the life course to social processes operating at higher levels. Even though a complex construct, it is often operationalized using single person-based indicators and/or subjective measures of an individual’s own perceived position in the social ladder. Furthermore, recognizing that social stratification is geographically defined, area-based measures place a community in the socioeconomic disadvantage continuum and are used to quantify the magnitude of geographically defined social inequalities Data driven approaches have been mostly used to construct socioeconomic deprivation indices, commonly using census-based indicators which reflect the sociodemographical compositions of areas. Increasingly, a wider set of methods are been used to capture features of a community’s environment pertaining to the physical, built and social environment.

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