Health‐Related Quality of Life Associated With Physical Activity: New Estimates by Gender and Race and Ethnicity

• Author: Cathleen Zick,Iris Buder,Norman Waitzman
• Date: 01 December 2016
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/wmh3.208
• Published date: 01 December 2016

Health-Related Quality of Life Associated With

Physical Activity: New Estimates by Gender and

Race and Ethnicity

Iris Buder, Cathleen Zick, and Norman Waitzman

The maturation of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) as both concept and measure is evident in its

formal incorporation into the new goals for Healthy People 2020. Its rising signif‌icance has paralleled

the expanding deployment of cost-effectiveness analyses, where HRQoL is critical to cost-utility

assessments of health interventions. Essentially, there is a growing consensus that if we are to

understand the interconnection of public health and effectiveness of interventions, we must include

assessments of HRQoL, as well as the variation that may arise in populations. In the area of quality of

life surrounding physical activity (PA) and interventions to modify its level, there is signif‌icant room

for such ref‌inement. In the current analysis, we utilize the Health and Activities Limitation Index

(HALex) to calculate mean health-related quality of life (HRQoL) scores by gender and race associated

with levels of PA. These new estimates provide the basis for more detailed assessments tailored to

specif‌ic demographic groups than have been done to date. Our analyses reveal that being physically

active increases HRQoL, for both women and men and for all races/ethnicities. Also, we observe that

PA has a greater impact in enhancing HRQoL among those who have health limitations.

KEY WORDS: health-related quality of life, gender/race ethnicity, physical activity

Introduction

The health benef‌its of physical activity (PA) are well documented. Physical

inactivity has been linked to higher risk of coronary heart disease (CHD),

hypertension, stroke, colon cancer, breast cancer, lung cancer, osteoporosis,

noninsulin-dependent diabetes, low back pain, obesity, depression, and anxiety

(Haskell et al., 2007). Such direct increase in morbidity risks, along with the well-

established link to higher obesity related to physical inactivity, results in

substantially higher health-care expenditures.

1

Less research has focused on the

relationship between PA levels and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) (Brown

et al., 2003).

Concurrent with rising obesity rates in recent decades, there has been an

increase in leisure-time PA, yet only one in f‌ive adults (21 percent) meet the

World Medical & Health Policy, Vol. 8, No. 4, 2016

409

1948-4682 #2016 Policy Studies Organization

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