Multiple chronic health problems are negatively associated with health related quality of life (HRQoL) irrespective of age

Purpose: To examine HRQoL measured by EORTC QLQ-C30 with respect to an incr easing number of self-reported chronic health problems in the general Swedi sh population and to study the association between HRQoL, chronic health pr oblems and age, gender, income, marital status and employment status. Metho d: A postal survey among a large random sample of 4000 adults aged 18-79 ye ars. The study material contained EORTC QLQ-C30 core questionnaire suppleme nted by a sociodemographic questionnaire including questions about 13 chron ic health problems of which four categories, 'No', 'Few', 'Some' or 'A lot of' chronic health problems were constructed. Results: Multiple chronic hea lth problems were significantly associated with reduced HRQoL. The increase d number of chronic health problems was also associated with age. When the number of chronic health problems was accounted for, the influence of age d iminished. Low income and unemployment were associated with greater decline in HRQoL with respect to increasing number of problems among the responden ts in working age. Conclusion: The impact of increased number of chronic he alth problems had varying consequences in different age groups. Moreover, s ociodemographic and economic factors showed to interact differently with ch ronic health problems and HRQoL in various age groups. It appears from our results that an assessment and a careful consideration of these factors wil l be valuable in order to facilitate the interpretation of the effects of c ancer and treatment on long-term HRQoL of cancer patients.