Do we know what global ratings of health-related quality of life measure?

Information is lacking about the public's perception of the term health-related quality of life (HRQL). Specifically, what are the relations between the domains included in the operational definition of HRQL tools and global health ratings. The purpose of this analysis was to identify factors associated with global rating of HRQL. We conducted a survey of a representative sample of 2,030 Israeli adults, aged 45-75 years. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to identify associations between the dependent variable, the global rating, and socio-economic details, presence of disease states, and each of the domains of the SF-36. The results demonstrate that the model explains only 52% of the variance of the global rating score. The general health domain of the SF-36 explains the vast majority of the variance, 38.5%. Another important explanatory variable was physical functioning domain, which explains 7.0% of the variance and to a lesser extent vitality. The other domains of the SF-36, socio-economic details and presence of disease states contribute only small percentages to the total explained variance of the global ratings of HRQL. It seems that there is a considerable difference between the operational definition of the research community of HRQL and the public perception of this term.