Perceptions of Health-Related Quality of Life: A Minority Men's Perspective

Abstract

Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) measures among the African American populations have previously been inadequately studied. This study sought to further analyze the quality of life of African American men at the Cleveland Clinic Minority Men's Health Center and Cleveland Clinic Minority Men's Health Fair. Subjects were randomly selected at the Minority Health Fair and Minority Men's Health Center clinics over the duration of 2 weeks to participate in the anonymous survey with the help of independent surveyors. Convenience sampling was done at the Minority Men's Health Fair and at the Minority Men's Health Clinics. Participants were administered in-person Short Form-36 (SF-36v2). A total of 83 participants were surveyed, and the response rate from the surveyed population was 100%. The only exclusion criterion for the study was the refusal to participate ( n = 0). As compared with healthy U.S. norms, African American men reported lower HRQOL across six health domains: physical functioning (60.69 ± 2.82 vs. 84.2), general health (57.56 ± 2.41 vs. 72), social functioning (72.65 ± 3.17 vs. 83.3), role-emotional (55.89 ± 3.02 vs. 81.3), mental health (61.23 ± 2.34 vs. 74.7), and role-physical (62.5 ± 2.88 vs. 81). The largest difference between the health domains was reported in role limitations due to emotional problems (55.89 ± 3.02 vs. 81.3, 25.4). Marital analysis revealed clinically significant lower HRQOL in married African Americans as compared with nonmarried, statistically significant in physical functioning and physical health component ( p < .05). African Americans disproportionally face pervasive disparities in health, as supported by extensive quality of life impairment. No other study, to our knowledge, has used quality of life assessment in African Americans to quantitate how such disparities are affecting important domains in their lives.

Keywords: epidemiology of men’s health; general health and wellness; health-related quality of life; quality of life.

Figure 1.

Comparison of health-related quality of life in African American men. Clinically significant differences noted as ‡, those that met criteria defined by Ware et al. No Clinical Significance set point available.

Figure 2.

Scatter plot of the simple linear regression analysis between the age and (A) Role limitations and physical health (RP), Pearson correlation coefficient R = .69, p < .05; (B) Age and Physical functioning (PF), R = .56, p < .15; (C) Age and Vitality (VT), R = .46, p < .24; (D) Age and role limitations due to emotional problems (RE), R = .81, p < .015; (E) Age and mental health, R = .49, p < .22; (F) Age and Social Functioning (SF), R = .178, p < .67; (G) Age and Bodily Pain (BP), R = .091, p < .83; (H) Age and General Health (GH), R = .021, p < .96; (I) Age and Physical Health Component (PHC), R = .52, p < .18; and (J) Age and Mental Health Component (MHC), R = .55, p < .15.

Figure 3.

Comparison of health-related quality of life in African American married versus nonmarried men, *Clinically significant differences noted, as those that met criteria defined by Ware et al. ^§p-values for continuous variables are from 2-sample t tests under the assumption of equal variances, and represent the difference between married and nonmarried men from same sample. Statistically significant difference is seen in PF and PHC. ^‡No Clinical Significance set point available for physical health and mental health components. Note. PF = physical functioning; RP = role-physical; BP = bodily pain; GH = general health; VT = vitality; SF = social functioning; RE = role-emotional; MH = mental health.

Figure 4.

Health-related quality of life scores of African American men within age distribution, as compared to U.S. norms. Note. PF = physical functioning; RP = role-physical; BP = bodily pain; GH = general health; VT = vitality; SF = social functioning; RE = role-emotional; MH = mental health. *Single data collection. ^§p-values for continuous variables are from 2-sample t tests under the assumption of equal variances, and represent the difference between African American men versus men >65 years or older from same sample. Statistically significant difference is seen in PF, PHC, and MHC.