Health Related Quality of Life and Arthritis

Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) is an important and commonly used measure of an individual’s overall assessment of their own physical functioning, psychological well-being, and social consequences of their health status. Research has consistently shown that having arthritis greatly worsens one’s health-related quality of life.

Results from examination of national data obtained over the period 1996-99 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that respondents with arthritis had significantly worse HRQOL than those without arthritis. Respondents with arthritis reported having fair or poor health three times as often as persons without arthritis (23.8% and 7.3% respectively).

Similar results are shown from the 2005 BRFSS survey of Pennsylvanians, where the prevalence of persons reporting their health as fair or poor was found to be 24.4% as compared to 8.6% for persons without arthritis.

Pennsylvania’s elderly population is especially affected by arthritis. Results of surveys on elderly enrolled in Pennsylvania Pharmaceutical Assistance Contract for the Elderly (PACE) have shown that arthritis is the leading cause of activity limitations . Compared to PACE beneficiaries without arthritis, those with arthritis reported significantly more days per month with activity-limiting pain (5.5 vs. 11.3 days), more days per month with poor sleep (6.8 vs. 4.6 days), more days per month with “Not Good” physical health (11.0 vs. 7.3 days), and more days per month with “Not Good” mental health (5.0 vs. 4.0 days). Arthritis was also significantly related to needing help with personal care activities and in handling routine tasks of daily living .

Prepared by: Frank Ahern, Ph.D., Dept. of Biobehavioral Health, Penn State University,
(814) 863-0185, f4a@psu.edu.