Abstract
Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is an important indicator of population health, yet no age-specific trend analyses in HRQoL have been conducted with a nationally representative sample since 2004. Therefore, to address this gap, an age-specific trend analysis of HRQoL was conducted using National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES) data. NHANES 2001-2016 data (8 cycles) were examined to evaluate trends in HRQoL by age group (young adults: 21-39, middle-aged: 40-64, older adults: 65+). HRQoL was assessed by self-reported health (SRH) and number of physically unhealthy, mentally unhealthy, and inactive days to due to physical or mental health in the past 30days. Multiple linear or logistic regression analyses explored trends in HRQoL by age group, adjusting for demographics over time. Analysis revealed increasing fair/poor SRH over time for the entire sample (β = 0.34, 95% CI 0.08, 0.60, p = 0.011). However, age-specific analysis identified a bi-annual increase in fair/poor SRH only among young adults (β = 0.49, 95% CI 0.22, 0.76, p < 0.001) and a decrease among older adults (β = - 0.60, 95% CI - 1.14, - 0.06, p = 0.03). Closer inspection revealed increasing fair/poor SRH increased among young women (β = 0.52, 95% CI 0.11, 0.93, p = 0.013) and young men (β = 0.46, 95% CI 0.04, 0.88, p = 0.03) but decreased among older women (β = - 0.81, 95% CI - 1.59, - 0.03, p = 0.042) over time. Analyses also determined that there was a trend for a decreasing number of physically unhealthy days among young adults (p < 0.001), although no trends were observed for the other HRQoL items. Although there was a significant trend over time for increasing fair/poor SRH when considering the entire sample, this trend was not consistent between age groups or sexes. Given increasing fair/poor SRH among young adults, there is a need to understand and address factors relating to HRQoL among this age group.
Highlights
Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) encompasses one’s physical health, mental health, and social well-being [1]
HRQoL is often assessed by self-reported health status (SRH) or by individuals reporting the number of physically unhealthy days, mentally unhealthy days, and/or inactive days due to physical or mental health in the past 30 days [7,8,9,10,11]
[Insert Figure 1 about here.] The age-specific analysis revealed a significant increase over time in fair/poor SRH for young adults (β=0.49, 95%confidence intervals (CI): 0.22, 0.76, p
Summary
Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) encompasses one’s physical health, mental health, and social well-being [1]. Researchers identified a 1.2% average annual increase of in fair/poor SRH and about a 2% increase in the number of physically unhealthy days, mentally unhealthy days, and inactive days due to physical or mental health [8]. This analysis determined that HRQoL declined in most age groups it did not change significantly among older adults [8]. Analysis of data from two cycles of data from the National Epidemiologic Surveys on Alcohol and Related Conditions found that HRQoL decreased from 2001-02 to 2012-13 and that the decline was greater among young and middleaged adults than older adults (aged ≥ 55) [12]
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