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

Purpose 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 bi-annual 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. Given increasing fair/poor SRH among young adults, there is a need to understand and address factors relating to HRQoL among this age group.