Objective To understand the quality of life of patients with pneumoconiosis in Ma'anshan City, to explore related influencing factors, and to provide a basis for seeking methods and approaches to improve their quality of life and reduce the burden of disease.

Methods From June to November 2022, 494 patients diagnosed with pneumoconiosis and residing in Ma'anshan City were studied. A self-made questionnaire combined with the 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) was used to investigate the patients' basic conditions, disease status, and quality of life. The factors affecting patients' quality of life were analyze using a multiple linear regression model.

Results Among all patients with pneumoconiosis, 488 were male (98.8%) and 6 were female (1.2%); 308 patients (62.35%) had an education level of elementary school or below; 225 patients (45.55%) had less than 10 years of dust exposure; 380 patients (76.92%) were in the first stage of pneumoconiosis; 112 patients (22.67%) had complications; and 398 patients (80.57%) felt that their health status was worse than a year ago. The overall quality of life scores and the scores of eight dimensions, including physical functioning (PF), role physical (RP), bodily pain (BP), general health (GH), vitality (VT), social functioning (SF), role emotional (RE), and mental health (MH), all showed varying degrees of decline. Multivariate analysis showed that compared with patients aged 80 and above, the total quality of life scores of patients in the 70 to 79, 60 to 69, and under 59 age groups improved by 8.171, 13.139, and 15.563 points, respectively (all P < 0.001); compared with patients with an education level of elementary school or below, chronic diseases, complications, living alone or in nursing homes, dust exposure longer than 30 years, disability levels of grades 1 to 4, and stage Ⅲ pneumoconiosis, the total quality of life scores of patients with an education level of high school or above, no chronic diseases, no complications, living with family, dust exposure less than 9 years, disability levels of grade 7 and above, and stage Ⅰ pneumoconiosis increased by 5.358, 6.897, 6.117, 10.349, 12.386, 6.347, and 15.152 points, respectively (all P < 0.05).

Conclusions The overall quality of life of patients with pneumoconiosis in Ma'anshan City was not high. It is recommended to focus on the quality of life status of pneumoconiotics who are older, living alone or in nursing homes, suffering from chronic diseases or complications of pneumoconiosis, with low education levels, and in the advanced stages of pneumoconiosis.