Health-Related Quality of Life of Servicemen of the Russian National Guard Troops Depending on Their Fitness-for-Military-Service Category

Introduction: Health-related quality of life reflects the impact of health status on physical, mental, and social functioning and is of particular importance for military personnel. Objective: To assess health-related quality-of-life indicators among servicemen of the National Guard Troops of the Russian Federation and to determine the nature of their associations with the fitness-for-military-service category, multimorbidity level, and work ability.

Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study included 796 servicemen who underwent medical examination from January 2022 to January 2023. We used the MOS 36-item short-form health survey (SF-36) to assess the quality of life (QoL), the work ability index (WAI) to establish work ability, and the cumulative illness rating scale (CIRS) to evaluate multimorbidity. The Kruskal–Wallis test and Spearman’s rank correlation analysis were applied; differences were considered statistically significant at p < 0.05.

Results: Significant differences between military fitness categories were identified across all SF-36 scales ( p < 0.001). The most pronounced decrease was observed in the physical component of health, physical and role functioning, bodily pain, and self-rated health. We found an inverse correlation between the CIRS index and all QoL indicators that was the strongest for the physical health component (ρ = −0.398; p < 0.001), physical functioning (ρ = −0.379; p < 0.001), and role physical functioning (ρ = −0.354; p < 0.001). The WAI demonstrated a positive correlation with the physical health component (ρ = 0.638; p < 0.001), role physical functioning (ρ = 0.586; p < 0.001), and physical functioning (ρ = 0.584; p < 0.001).

Conclusions: Deterioration in military fitness is associated with a decline in quality of life, particularly in the physical domain. A comprehensive assessment of the quality of life and work ability may complement medical fitness evaluation.

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