Age-specific trends in health-related quality of life among US adults: findings from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2001–2016

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. Methods: 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 30 days. Multiple linear or logistic regression analyses explored trends in HRQoL by age group, adjusting for demographics over time. Results: 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 biannual 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. Conclusions: 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.

Development of gender inequality in self-rated health in the life-phase of raising children in Germany from 1994 to 2018 – A decomposition analysis of socioeconomic, psychosocial and family-related influencing factors

“…Our main result was that despite positive developments in socioeconomic and psychosocial factors, particularly for women, proportions of good and poor SRH for both genders have not changed markedly. This corresponds to previous work that indicated that SRH did no substantial change in younger ages ( Clause-Verdreau et al, 2019 ; Greaney et al, 2019 ; Sperlich et al, 2019 ; Wolff et al, 2017 ). Accordingly, we found that gender inequalities in SRH to the disadvantage of women did not substantially change over time.…”

“…While some suggest a decrease in gender differences in SRH in favor of women ( Aguilar-Palacio et al, 2018 ; Cummings & Braboy Jackson, 2008 ; Põld et al, 2016 ; Sperlich et al, 2019 ; Volken et al, 2017 ), others found no evidence for a narrowing of the gender gap ( Galenkamp et al, 2013 ; Johansson et al, 2015 ; Pinillos-Franco & García-Prieto, 2017 ). In addition, recent findings suggest that health improvements are more visible among older individuals whereas hardly any change could be found for younger ages ( Clause-Verdreau et al, 2019 ; Greaney et al, 2019 ; Sperlich et al, 2019 ; Wolff et al, 2017 ). These findings point to the importance of an age-differentiated consideration of health trends.…”

Development of a General Health Score Based on 12 Objective Metabolic and Lifestyle Items: The Lifestyle and Well-Being Index

“…Additional lifestyle characteristics included the assessment of physical activity and insomnia as an indicator of sleep quality [ 29 ]. Insomnia was self-reported and categorized as: never experienced insomnia; rarely presenting insomnia; and currently experiencing insomnia or past symptoms of insomnia.…”

Incremental burden on health‐related quality of life, health service utilization and direct medical expenditures associated with cognitive impairment among non‐institutionalized people with diabetes aged 65 years and older

“…Among all subgroups, CI had the most significant impact on the HRQoL in people aged 65‐75. Greaney et al studied the correlation between age and HRQoL using a nationally representative sample of the United States, concluding that younger adults would probably have lower HRQoL 22 . Dube and colleagues reported a similar pattern based on Behavioural Risk Factor Surveillance System data 23 .…”