The Relationship between Physical Activity and Health-Related Quality of Life in Korean Adults: The Eighth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

This study used the raw data from the Eighth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES-VIII), conducted under the supervision of the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2019. It was conducted to identify a significant correlation between physical activity (PA) and health-related quality of life (HR QOL) in the Korean population. In 2019, the KNHANES-VIII added the Health-related Quality of Life Instrument with 8 items (HINT-8) to assess the HR QOL. The independent variable is related to PA, specifically the presence or absence of PA, type of PA, and the frequency of PA. The dependent variable is HR QOL, measured either as the total score or specific items (e.g., pain, vitality, and memory) using the HINT-8 measurement tool. Demographic characteristics and health status may directly or indirectly influence the relationship between PA and HR QOL, which were used as covariates. A total of 4357 participants were included in the current study. The mean HINT-8 scores were significantly higher in the participants who performed PA on a weekly basis, leisure-related PA or MSPA, as compared with those who did not (p = 0.01 and <0.0001, respectively). In both the unadjusted and adjusted models, the mean HINT-8 scores were significantly higher in the participants who performed ≥500 MET-min/week of leisure-related PA as compared with those who did not (95% CI: 1.017–1.033; p < 0.001 and 95% CI: 1.005–1.02; p = 0.001, respectively). In both the unadjusted and adjusted models, the mean HINT-8 scores were significantly higher (95% CI: 1.015–1.03; p < 0.001 and 95% CI: 1.004–1.018; p = 0.003, respectively) in the participants who performed MSPA for ≥2 days/week as compared with those who did not. The current results confirmed that there is a significant positive correlation between the PA and HR QOL based on the HINT-8 scores. Because the HINT-8 was developed to assess the HR QOL in Koreans, however, further studies are warranted to evaluate its applicability to other ethnic populations.