Evaluating health-related quality of life impact of chronic conditions among older adults from a rural town in Suzhou, China

This study aimed to estimate the loss of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) associated with common chronic conditions in older Chinese population.Weitang Geriatric Diseases Study is a community-based health survey on 5557 Chinese aged 60 years or older. The study population was measured with EQ-5D-3L for HRQOL assessment. We also assessed the coexisting chronic conditions of depression, cognitive dysfunction, stroke, heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, obesity, hyperlipidemia and visual impairment based on self-completed questionnaires, biomarkers and medical records. Ordinary Least Square regression was performed to model the relationship between the conditions and the EQ-5D-3L index scores. The robust standard error (RSE) estimator was adopted to calculate 95% confidence interval (CI) for coefficients. The mean EQ-5D-3L representing overall HRQOL was 0.954 (standard deviation: 0.081) with 70% of participants reporting full health. After controlling for socio-demographic characteristics and comorbidities, depression, stroke, heart disease and cognitive dysfunction had significantly adverse impact on the EQ-5D index score. The respective coefficients (95% CI) of each condition were −0.191 (−0.233, −0.150), −0.052 (−0.086, −0.019), −0.019 (−0.029, −0.010), and −0.016 (−0.024, −0.008). Chronic conditions were found to contribute to HRQOL loss in older Chinese population. The utility and utility decrement estimated can be used for quality-adjusted life-year calculation.