A Study on the Prevalence of Chronic Diseases, Health-related Habits and Nutrients Intakes according to the Quality of Life in Korean Adults

Chung, Jee young; Lee, Mi Young; Kim, Mi Joung

Abstract

This study was done to analyze the chronic diseases prevalence and dietary intake status according to the health related quality of life and to identify its significant properties. This study was conducted based on 2906 subjects ranging from 20~64 years old, out of 9704 total subjects from the 4th Korean National Health and Nutrition Survey in 2008. The average quality of life (QL) score was 0.915, where 983 subjects were below the average (low QL group) and 1923 subjects were above (high QL group). In the high QL group, there was more likely to be young, male, and with higher income and education. For high QL group, the self-related health score was high, and the subjective stress level was low. The prevalence of diabetes was significantly higher in the low QL group and anthropometric and biochemical measures were not shown differences between the two groups but waist circumference was significantly higher in the low QL group. The QL score was significantly negative correlated with the waist circumference and the body mass index. As for the recognition rate of Nutrition Guideline, there were no significant differences but high QL group had higher scores in "Eat a variety of foods", "Avoid too much Sodium", and "Enjoy meals and Eating a breakfast". Carbohydrate intake was significantly lower in the high QL group than in low QL group and the high QL group showed higher intake in legumes, meat and poultry, fruits, daily products and beverages. Overall results suggest that increased diabetes prevalence in people with low quality of life might be affected by the diets based on high carbohydrate, increased waist circumference, and lower rate of practice nutritional guideline.