Perceived discrimination and quality of life of the adult population from three cities in the Peruvian highlands.

Motivation for the study. Discrimination as a negative social determinant for health entails limitations in several areas, even affecting people's quality of life. Its research is mainly aimed at the racial context. Studies on other types of discrimination are scarce in the scientific literature. Main findings. People with mental disorders perceived discrimination due to different sociodemographic conditions and had lower quality of life scores. Implications. Discrimination as exclusionary behavior is facilitated and becomes more complex in people with some vulnerability. In order to determine the relationship between perceived discrimination and quality of life, we carried out a cross-sectional analytical study of secondary sources. Data from three cities in the Peruvian highlands were analyzed. The sample of 3889 adults was grouped into participants with mental disorders (n=1499) and without mental disorders (n=2390). We used statistical tests of independence and independent group comparison for complex samples. The lowest quality of life was found in the group of participants with mental disorders who perceived themselves discriminated in the last year by sex (p<0.001), age (p<0.001), weight (p<0.001), dress (p<0.001), economic or social status (p<0.001), educational level (p<0.001), religion (p=0.008), friendships (p=0.005) and height (p=0.008). In conclusion, people with a mental disorder in the cities of Ayacucho, Cajamarca and Huaraz who perceived discrimination during the last year had lower quality of life averages than those without a mental disorder.