Social determinants of health-related quality of life

The concept of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) considers patient's perspective as an essential component of the health care relationship. HRQoL is often assimilated to a set of existing tools aimed at measuring the perspective of patient, more particularly the consequences of ill-health condition on patient's everyday life. Patients' reports of their health is however diverse, as social factors such as age, gender, professional status are likely to impact on health self-perception and reporting. Social aspects of HRQoL are somehow underexplored. This paper presents a secondary analysis of epidemiological HRQoL data issued from two national surveys (Baromètre Santé 2005; Enquête Décennale Santé 2002-2003). The data analysis showed the existence of social determinants of HRQoL. It more specifically demonstrated that four social indicators are determinants of HRQoL namely living in couple, level of education, occupational status and net income per household, independently of age and gender known effect. Social mechanisms governing the impact of social determinants on quality of life could be further explored by adopting a multidisciplinary and mutilevel research approach of HRQoL as well as considering the ability of individuals to engage with social aspect of their health conditions.