Health-related quality of life among urban and rural to urban migrant populations in Lima, Peru

Objectives. To explore if there is a difference in the perception and self reported quality of life between rural-to-urban migrants and urban groups. Materials and methods. Cross-sectional study, secondary analysis of the PERU-MIGRANT study (PEru's Rural to Urban MIGRANTs Study). WHOQOL-Brief survey's global scores and per specifc domains obtained in the survey were compared using Kruskall-Wallis' test and assessing size effect. Results. A total of 307 subjects (62.2% migrants, 57% female, means age 47 years-old) were surveyed. Compared with the urban group, migrants reported lower quality of life both on the global scores as well as in psychological health and the living environment domains. Migrants reported a higher score on the physical health's domain. Conclusions. The impact of rural-to-urban migration on quality of life suggests a differential effect within its specifc domains.