Introduction: Besides calculation of mortality indicators and prevalence and severity of diseases, measurement ofand assessment of health interventions currently take into account also other human values such as the quality of life therefore, information about the quality of life in the general population of Tehran can be considered as baseline information to which can be referred in assessment of interventions. The aim of the present study was to assess the quality of life in the general population of Tehran. In this study, the World Health Organization Quality of Life-BRIEF (WHOQOL-BREF) questionnaire was used, whose range of scores in each of its four domains, namely physical health, psychological health, social relationships, and environment, is from 4 to 20, and higher scores indicate better quality of life. This questionnaire is composed of a total of 26 questions.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 1164 people from the general population of 22 zones of Tehran Municipality filled the WHOQOL-BREF through a multi-stage stratified sampling scheme, and the results were compared with similar information gathered from completion of the same questionnaire in 23 other countries of the world.

Results: Mean (standard deviation) of domain scores of the aforementioned questionnaire in the population under study were 14.3 (SD=2.6) for physical health, 13.4 (SD=2.6) for psychological health, 13.9 (SD=2.6) for social relationships, and 12.3 (SD=2.4) for environment. Mean scores of all domains were significantly higher for the participants in the WHO study as a whole than those for participants in this study. In analysis of different age bands, scores of the environment and the psychological health for Tehran's population were significantly lower than those for other parts of the world as a whole and in the same age band. Scores of the psychological health, social relationships, and environment in the group of patients participated in the population studied by WHO were either similar to or higher than the healthy people living in Tehran.

 Conclusion: Since a representative sample of Tehran's population participated in this study, the results provide useful information on this population's quality of life in different domains. Overall, the differences between scores achieved by Tehran's population and those obtained in other countries for different domains signify the importance of effective interventions in these domains, and warrant consideration.

 Tehran Hakim Research Journal 2007 10(3): 1- 8.