Introduction The objective of this study was to assess quality of life (QoL) among adults in Salvador-Bahia, Brazil, and identify potentials factors related to its domains.

Methods Cross-sectional study in 501 adults between 35 and 59 years, living in five different areas covered by the Community Health Agents Program/Family Health Strategy (CHAP/FHS), from July to October, 2008. Data were collected through interview using a questionnaire including social-economic variables and oral health status and the WHO Quality of Life questionnaire (WHOQOL-Bref) validated in Brazilian population to measured QoL. Descriptive and exploratory analyses were carried out and differences in scores were tested by Mann–Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests.

Results Mean scores of WHOQOL-Bref were 58.5±19.8 and 59.0±27.3 to the general issues of quality of life and satisfaction with health, respectively. The social relationships domain had the highest mean scores (69.3±18.4) and the environment domain had the lowest mean scores (49.8±14.5). The WHOQOL-Bref domains showed that QoL is perceived better by male, having the highest mean scores (71.8±12.8) on the psychological domain and the lowest mean scores (53.8±13.1) on the environmental domain. Variables predicted for QoL were: years of education, monthly individual income, treated water at home and mucosal damage.

Conclusions Evaluate QoL is very important for adult and it showed associated with current social-economic conditions and with oral health status. WHOQoL-Bref proved to be an efficient tool and useful for a better evaluation approach of the subjective aspects of QoL.