A comparison of the health and related quality of life between middle-aged Korean and Chinese women. 
The proportion of middle-aged people in one's total life cycle has increased.  Health providers are required to promote and manage their health, and improve the quality of their life, especially middle-aged women.  As international interchanges in nursing are growing between Korea and China, understanding of the level related to health and quality of life between middle-aged Korean and Chinese women is critical to improve their health and quality of life.  To compare and examine the health perception, anger expression, self-esteem and quality of life between middle-aged Korean and Chinese women.  A cross-sectional survey was conducted.  The participants were comprised of a total 430 middle-aged Korean (n=220) and Chinese (n=210) women aged 40-64 years.  The survey included a set of four questionnaires.  All measures were self-administered.  Data were analysed using the statistical package, SPSS/WIN Ver16.0 (SPSS, Inc., Chicago, IL, USA).  Middle-aged Chinese women had higher health perception than middle-aged Korean women.  Anger expression, self-esteem and quality of life of middle-aged Korean women were higher than in middle-aged Chinese women.  Also, there were the differences in the health perception, anger expression and self-esteem according to the general characteristics in all middle-aged Korean and Chinese women.  Various nursing intervention strategies should be developed and adjusted to improve the self-esteem and quality of life for all middle-aged Korean and Chinese women, especially middle-aged Chinese women.  Additionally, the individual characteristics and national culture of the middle-aged women should be considered as a basis for the nursing intervention.