Abstract
Background
To assess the association between health-related quality of life (HRQL) and a composite outcome including incident coronary heart disease (CHD) and cerebrovascular events in a large general population-based cohort.
Design
Prospective analysis on 17,102 men and women (mean age 53 ± 11) free from cardiovascular disease at time of enrolment in the Moli-sani cohort (2005–2010).
Methods
HRQL was assessed by the 36-Item Short Form Health Survey. Hazard ratios with 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) were calculated using multivariable Cox-proportional hazard models.
Results
At the end of follow-up (median 4.2 years), 237 new events occurred (coronary heart disease n = 197, cerebrovascular disease n = 42). In a multivariable model adjusted for socioeconomic factors, chronic disease and health-related behaviours, both mental and physical HRQL were inversely associated with the risk of the composite outcome (hazard ratio = 0.57; 0.39–0.84 and hazard ratio = 0.62; 0.40–0.94, respectively; highest vs. lowest quartile). Further adjustment for C-reactive protein marginally modified the association with physical HRQL (hazard ratio = 0.67; 0.43–1.02). Similar findings were obtained when only CHD events were analysed (hazard ratio = 0.63; 0.41–0.96 for highest versus lowest mental HRQL) although results with physical HRQL were no longer significant (hazard ratio = 0.65; 0.40–1.04 for highest versus lowest quartile). Associations with incident cerebrovascular disease showed a trend toward protection (hazard ratio = 0.50; 0.22–1.17 and hazard ratio = 0.51; 0.22–1.23 for highest versus lowest tertile of mental and physical HRQL, respectively).
Conclusions
HRQL is an independent predictor of composite CHD/cerebrovascular outcomes in an adult population. The magnitude of the association was not affected either by socioeconomic factors, health conditions or health-related behaviours. Improvement of quality of life may be a major factor in targeting appropriate prevention strategies for cardiovascular health.
Keywords
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
