Abstract: Objective To evaluate the applicability of the SF-36 scales in measuring the quality of life of patients with multi-drug resistant pulmonary tuberculosis (MDR-TB), to analyze the factors affecting the quality of patient’s life.  Methods SF-36 instrument was used to measure and evaluate the quality of life of 100 MDR-TB patients and 200 healthy people. The reliability and validity of SF-36 were evaluated. Overall value and value of each domain before treatment, 3 month and 1 year after treatment start were measured for 100 patients. Treatment effect was evaluated by paired t test and analysis of variance. Simple and multiple stepwise regression analysis were made to evaluate factors affecting the quality of life.  Results The split-half reliability of scales was 0.96, Overall Cronbach’s а coefficients and coefficients in each domain were all larger than 0.7. There were significant differences for the overall scores of quality of life and scores in eight domains between the MDR-TB patients and the normal people(P<0.05); overall scores of quality of life and eight domains in 3 months or 1 year after treatment start were significantly higher than before treatment (P<0.05). After patient completed 1 year treatment, the scores of overall quality of life and in PF、PR、GH、VT、SF、ER、MH’s domains were lower than control groups (P<0.05).The main factors affecting the quality of life of MDR-TB patients were cultural level, kinds of drug resistant, irregular treatment and reduction of white blood cell counts.  Conclusion The SF-36 scales is applicable for measuring the quality of life of MDR-TB patients. The quality of life of MDR-TB patients decreased greatly, and increased significantly after treatment, but still could not recover to normal after 1 year therapy. The main factors affecting the quality of life of MDR-TB patients were cultural level, kinds of drug resistant, irregular treatment and reduction of white blood cell counts.

Key words: tuberculosis,pulmonary, tuberculosis, multidrug-resistant, quality of life, health status indicators, psychometrics