Background:

Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is the perception, influenced by the current health status, of the capacity to perform those activities that are important for the individual. In military populations, HRQOL has been less investigated than other aspects of military performance.

Objective:

To study the HRQoL of Spanish military personnel and their relationship with socio-demographic variables, establishing a comparison with the civilian population.

Material and Method:

Quantitative, descriptive and transversal study.

Population:

130 soldiers of a high operating unit. Instruments: Socio-demographic questionnaire and the Spanish version of the SF-36 questionnaire (Spanish version).

Statistical analysis:

Descriptive statistics and correlation of variables with the R® software package.

Results:

62% men, mean age 30 years; Professional training predominates (31%). 62% live in pairs; 52% with a seniority in the Armed Forces over eight years. 35% had participated in international missions. Officers and non-commissioned officers scored in almost all domains above the civilian average, except in the domain of bodily pain. The troops only score above the civilian population in three domains: general health, physical functioning and mental health. The sociodemographic variables, marital status, military employment and seniority have significant HRQoL scores.

Conclusions:

The military has better HRQoL in terms of overall physical health and mental health than the civilian population. The troop perceived worse their HRQoL. Variables: marital status, military employment and seniority seem to have a positive influence on HRQoL.