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Published on: February 22, 2018
Association between generalized anxiety disorder and health-related quality of life
Jiseon Kim1, Yeonjin Lee2, Sangshin Park3
1Graduate School of Urban Public Health, University of Seoul, 163 Seoulsiripdae-ro, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul, 02504, Republic of Korea.
Background:
The objective of this study was to examine the association between generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in the general Korean population, and whether this relationship differed by multimorbidity profiles and household income.
Methods:
We included 5,542 participants aged 19 years or older from the data of the 2021 Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The GAD was assessed using the Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item scale (GAD-7). Participants with a GAD-7 score ≥ 10 were classified as having GAD. HRQOL was measured using the Health-related Quality of Life Instrument with 8 Items (HINT-8). Multimorbidity profiles were derived using latent class analysis. Survey-weighted regression models were used to evaluate associations and interaction effects.
Results:
The weighted prevalence of GAD was 4.23%, with a mean GAD-7 score of 1.99. The mean HINT-8 index was 0.80. Higher GAD-7 scores and the presence of GAD were consistently associated with lower HINT-8 index values. GAD was associated with increased odds of problems across all HINT-8 domains, with particularly strong associations for depression (odds ratio [OR] = 34.43) and moderate associations for memory (OR = 4.88) and sleep (OR = 4.68). Three multimorbidity profiles (Healthy, Geriatric Disease, and Cardiometabolic Disease groups) were identified, and the association between GAD-7 scores and HRQOL differed by multimorbidity profile and household income, with similar patterns observed for GAD status.
Conclusions:
Higher GAD-7 scores and GAD were associated with substantially poorer HRQOL across both physical and psychological domains. The strength of this relationship varied according to multimorbidity profile and socioeconomic context.
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