Comment on “Evaluation of the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the quality of life among the Kuwaiti population—A cross-sectional study”

Dear Editor, The publication on “Evaluation of the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the quality of life among the Kuwaiti population—A cross-sectional study[1]” is interesting. The purpose of this study was to analyze the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and preventative measures on the Kuwaiti population’s quality of life by a cross-sectional descriptive survey conducted in 2021. Choosing a sample from two major health institutions in six health districts in Kuwait is a serious constraint. A sample drawn from two health centers may not be typical of the total community, and hence this survey cannot reflect the experiences of all sectors of the Kuwaiti population. Furthermore, the use of a self-administered questionnaire is prone to response bias, which may not fully represent the entire range of respondents. The study found that over two-thirds of participants (64.4%) were infected with COVID-19, and the vast majority (88.4%) had received a COVID-19 vaccine. However, based on data from only two health centers, it is not reasonable to assume that the findings are applicable to the entire community. The World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOL) measure is a solid way to assess quality of life; however, it has interpretability issues. Certain dimensions of quality of life, such as physical health, may be influenced by factors other than COVID-19, such as social and economic conditions. The study’s finding that COVID-19 vaccine recipients reported a higher quality of life in social and environmental domains is intriguing, but it did not address other factors that could influence quality of life, such as stress levels or pandemic-related psychological factors. This constraint may impede the results from fully measuring the disease’s impact. More research is needed to understand if the increased quality of life in vaccinated individuals reflects trust in the public health system or good vaccine management in Kuwait. Finally, the findings that the social and environmental domains had lesser impacts than other domains imply that the COVID-19 pandemic may have had a stronger influence on individual well-being than on societal changes overall. More research is needed to evaluate whether adapting to social changes, such as limited interaction with others and working from home, can reduce the impact on quality of life, or if these aspects may, on the contrary, raise the psychological burden on the population during the pandemic. AI declaration The author use language editing computational tool in preparation of the article. Authors’ contribution HP 50% ideas, writing, analyzing, approval; VW 50% ideas, supervision, approval. Financial support and sponsorship Nil. Conflicts of interest There are no conflicts of interest.