Racial differences in lifestyle, demographic, and health factors associated with quality of life (QoL) in midlife women

Abstract

Previously, quality of life (Qol) has been defined as an individual’s evaluation of a satisfactory life as a whole (i.e. physically, mentally, psychologically, and socially). Only a few studies have examined the racial differences between QoL and risk factors associated with health, demographics, and lifestyle in midlife women. Thus, the purpose of our study was to determine racial differences in QoL in menopausal women due to lifestyle, demographic, and health related risk factors. A stratified ordinal logistic regression model was applied to self-reported questionnaire data from the Midlife Women’s Health Study (MWHS) to determine risk factors associated with QoL differences between White and Black women during the menopausal transition. In multivariable models, our results showed Black women who had 3 or 4 comorbidities were about 4 times as likely to have higher QoL compared to women who had 0 to 2 comorbidities (95% CI: 1.65,10.78). However, the number of comorbidities was not significantly associated with QoL in White women in univariate or multiple regression. Further, body mass index and income were not significant factors in QoL in Black women but were in White women. Overall, our results illustrate that differences in health, demographic, and lifestyle factors are associated with QoL during menopause. Also, we suggest that future studies evaluate stratified models between racial groups to determine race-specific risk factors related to quality of life.

Classifying and characterizing the development of self-reported overall quality of life among the Chinese elderly: a twelve-year longitudinal study

“…3) Our findings examined a range of covariates, and this went beyond previous studies by being able to recognize important influential factors of the development of self-reported overall QoL. Previous evidence about the covariate effects on QoL was mostly from cross-sectional surveys [ 10 , 11 , 13 ], while our study investigated the covariate effects from a longitudinal perspective. These findings could help promote the understanding of different covariate effects and provide valuable information for practice.…”

“…Several time-invariant covariates (TICs) were considered, which have been recognized as important to the elder’s QoL in previous studies [ 10 , 11 , 13 ]. All covariates were collected in 2002, the first wave of data collection, which included 6 basic variables (age, gender - “male = 1, female = 0”; ethnicity - “Han = 1, non-Han = 0”; financial source - “enough = 1, not enough = 0”; smoking status - “current smoker = 1, not current smoker = 0”; drinking status - “current drinker = 1, not current drinker = 0”), 5 dietary variables (eat fresh fruit, eat meat, eat fish, eat egg, drink tea), 6 functional variables (bathing disability, dressing disability, toileting disability, transferring disability, continence disability, feeding disability) and 5 behavioral variables (do physical labor regularly, do housework, read newspapers/books, watch TV or listen to the radio, take part in some social activities).…”

“…QoL has been widely used as a health-related outcome in research about diseases, like dementia [ 10 ], cancer [ 11 ], and insomnia [ 12 ]. Besides, the level of QoL was found to be associated with various socio-demographic, health-related, and lifestyle factors, like smoking status [ 13 ], wealth status [ 8 ], physical status [ 10 ], and nutritional status [ 11 ].…”

A review of African American women's experiences in menopause

“…Paradoxically, African American women with three to four comorbidities had higher QoL scores compared with White women with zero to two comorbidities. In addition, BMI and income status were not a significant influence of QoL in African American women as they were in White women 39 . The SWAN study found that African American women had lower health-related QoL and higher measures of baseline pain 10 .…”

“…In addition, BMI and income status were not a significant influence of QoL in African American women as they were in White women. 39 The SWAN study found that African American women had lower health-related QoL and higher measures of baseline pain. 10 Discrimination was associated with increased measures of pain in both African American and White women, although African American women reported more discrimination.…”