Race and health-related quality of life in midlife women in Baltimore, Maryland

ObjectiveOnly a few studies have examined the association between race/ethnicity and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) during midlife. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine this association in the context of a population-based study of Caucasian and African-American women aged 45–54 years.MethodsData from 626 pre- and peri-menopausal African-American and Caucasian women aged 45–54 years were analyzed. HRQOL was measured using Cantril's Self-Anchoring Ladder of Life, a validated measure of overall life satisfaction. Body mass index was determined using measured height and weight. Information on race and other variables such as education was based on self-report. Logistic regression models were constructed to examine the unadjusted and adjusted associations between race and low present HRQOL (≤6 on Cantril's Ladder of Life).ResultsIn both the unadjusted and adjusted analyses, race was not significantly associated with low present HRQOL (unadjusted OR 1.57; 95% CI 0.93, 2.65; adjusted OR 0.82; 95% CI 0.42, 1.61). In the fully adjusted model, only the number of menopausal symptoms and self-rated health were significantly associated with present HRQOL.ConclusionsFindings from this population-based study suggest that race is not a statistically significant determinant of present HRQOL among midlife women.