Gender differences and burden of chronic conditions: impact on quality of life among the elderly in Taiwan.

BACKGROUND

Multiple chronic conditions affect people's health-related quality of life (QoL) and the distributions of the conditions may differ between genders. Our goal was to examine gender differences in chronic conditions and QoL among community-living elderly in Taiwan and to examine whether differences in QoL between genders, if present, were attributable to the distribution of chronic conditions.

METHODS

We used data from the Nutrition and Health Survey in Taiwan (NAHSIT, 2005-2008), which interviewed a representative sample of the Taiwanese population. The survey questions included the SF-36 questionnaire to assess participants' QoL and items for participants' medical history. We used multiple linear regressions to examine the difference in QoL between genders.

RESULTS

We included 1179 elders for our analysis; men accounted for 52% (612/1179). The mean age was 73; women were slightly younger. The mean (standard deviation) of SF-36 physical and mental health component score (PCS and MCS) was 44.5 (11.1) and 55.6 (9.0), respectively, and women reported a significantly lower PCS than men (difference - 4.85, p < 0.001). Urinary incontinence, arthritis, stroke, and kidney disease were associated with a clinically meaningful decrease in PCS (≤ - 6.5 points). The difference in PCS between genders was not attenuated after we accounted for chronic conditions in regression analysis.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings suggest that women tend to report that their physical health-related QoL is poorer than that of men, and such a difference does not seem to be attributable to the distribution of chronic conditions. Elderly men and women may perceive health-related QoL differently.