Purpose: Little is known about the association between health-related quality of life and the metabolic syndrome. The objective of this study was to compare health-related quality of life in adults with and without the metabolic syndrome.
Methods: We performed a cross-sectional analysis of 1859 men and women aged > or =20 years from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2001-2002. Health-related quality of life was assessed with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention HRQOL-4 tool.
Results: A larger percentage of participants with the metabolic syndrome had fair or poor health (difference = 11.3%, p = 0.002), > or =14 physically unhealthy days (difference = 5.0%) (p = 0.129), > or =14 mentally unhealthy days (difference = 7.4%) (p = 0.010), and > or =14 activity-limitation days (difference = 5.8%) (p = 0.024) during the past 30 days than participants without the metabolic syndrome. After adjusting for age, sex, ethnicity, educational status, and smoking status, participants with the metabolic syndrome were more likely to have fair or poor health (odds ratio [OR], 1.94; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.21-3.13), > or =14 mentally unhealthy days (OR, 1.97; 95% CI, 1.28-3.02), and > or =14 activity limitation days (OR, 3.20; 95% CI, 1.46-7.02) than those without the metabolic syndrome.
Conclusions: U.S. adults with the metabolic syndrome experience worse health-related quality of life than adults without this syndrome.