effect of the physical environment on the health-related quality of life of the low-income korean elderly population

Background: the increasing number of elderly citizens due to changes in the social structure is of national in-terest. this study aimed to provide basic data for devising policies to promote the quality of life of elderly na-tional basic livelihood security system (nblss) beneficiaries in south korea by identifying the effects of their general characteristics and physical environment on their health-related quality of life (hrqol). methods: using the 2013 korean community health survey (kchs) raw data, we analyzed 3537 nblss ben-eficiaries aged 65 yr and older. hrqol was measured using the euro qol five-dimension questionnaire (eq-5d). hierarchical multiple regression analyses were used to predict the eq-5d scores. results: the explanatory power for hrqol increased to 21.4% when the general characteristics and physical environment were included. hrqol showed statistically significant differences in the environmental variable, level of safety (p=0.001), natural environment (p=0.001), living environment (p=0.001), traffic condition (p<0.001), and access to health services (p<0.001). physical environment positively correlated with hrqol(r=.119, p<0.001), thus confirming its influence (ß=.092, p<0.001). conclusion: we should strive to manage the physical environment to improve the quality of life of elderly nblss beneficiaries.