title: Update to the Report of Nationally Representative Values for the Noninstitutionalized US Adult Population for Five Health-Related Quality-of-Life Scores.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The most recent reports of nationally representative health-related quality-of-life (HRQOL) values for the United States used data that were collected over a decade ago.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To update these values using data from 2011, stratified by age and sex.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study used data from two sources-the 2011 Medical Expenditures Panel Survey (MEPS) and the 2011 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS). Both are nationally representative surveys of the US noninstitutionalized civilian population. The MEPS was used to calculate four HRQOL scores: categorical self-rated health, mental and physical component summaries from the short form-12 items (SF-12) health survey, and the health state short form-6 dimensions (SF-6D). We also estimated Quality of Well-Being Scale scores from the NHIS. We reported means and quartiles for all continuous scores, stratified by decade of age and sex.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were 23,906 eligible subjects in the 2011 MEPS and 32,242 eligible subjects in the 2011 NHIS. All age and sex categories had instrument completion rates above 84%. Females reported lower mean scores than did males across all ages and instruments. In general, those in older age groups reported lower scores than did those in younger age groups, with the exception of the mental component summary scores from the SF-12 health survey. When compared with previous reports, these new values were generally lower than those in previous reports but rarely reached minimally important difference criteria.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This report updates US nationally representative age- and sex-stratified estimates for five HRQOL scores using data from 2011. These values are important for use in both generalized comparisons of health status and in cost-effectiveness analyses.
authors.affiliation: Division of General Internal Medicine, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA, USA. Electronic address: hanmerjz@upmc.edu.
authors.forename: Janel
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hanmer
authors.affiliation: UCLA Department of Health Services, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Robert M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Kaplan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006306:Health Surveys / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008875:Middle Aged; D011788:Quality of Life; D057566:Self Report; D012737:Sex Factors; D014481:United States; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: United States; health status; quality of life; surveys and questionnaires