Introduction This study has been planned to determine quality of life of people in one health center area, and the effect of sociodemographic factors, hypertension and other chronic diseases.

Methods This cross-sectional study is conducted among residence of age 40 and over, living at the Park Health Center Area in Ankara-Turkey. Three hundred participants from the eligible population (n=5962) were chosen by simple random sampling of these 260 (86.6%) were reached. Twenty for questions for sociodemographic factors and chronic diseases and short form 36 (SF-36) health survey questionnaires had been administered to each participant. Data analysis was performed by using SPSS for Windows program, Mann–Whitney U, Kruskal–Wallis and multiple linear regression tests were used for statistical analysis.

Results The mean of general SF-36 score of the study group was 61.8±21.9 (95% CI 59.1 to 64.5). The scores for physical functioning, physical role, bodily pain, general health, vitality, social functioning, emotional role and general mental health scales were (70.5), (57.8), (64.5), (54.6), (52.8), (77.9), (56.7), and (59.8) respectively. In multiple linear regression analysis; age, sex, education, type of house, annual income per capita, hypertension and the other chronic diseases had significant effect on various scales of the SF-36.

Conclusion The SF-36 scores of the study population were found to be low. It was determined that older age, female sex; low education level, hypertension and other chronic diseases have a negative effect on quality of life. According to results multidisciplinary approach and efforts are necessary for promoting quality of life.