Race Differences in Health-Related Quality of Life in the United States

Claudia Pereira, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Mari Palta, University of Wisconsin at Madison
John Mullahy, University of Wisconsin at Madison

Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) instruments are used to summarize population health and to inform decision-making in health. There is a lack of studies that comprehensively examine the relationship between race and generic HRQoL. The goal of this study is to study differences in HRQoL, between blacks and whites and associated factors, using the summary and domain specific scores of the SF-6D, EQ-5D, QWB-SA, HUI2, HUI3 in a nationally representative sample of 3,844 adults. We find that after controlling for socio-demographic, socioeconomic and discrimination variables that small differences between black women and white men remain and that differences between black men and white males persist in the opposite hypothesized direction. We observe the importance of discrimination to HRQoL, along with SES. Policy and programs aiming at providing higher levels of HRQoL to racial minorities should focus on socioeconomic variables but also on creating social environments where individuals feel less discriminated.