Quality of life in chronic musculoskeletal symptomatic Chilean population: secondary analysis of National Health Survey 2009–2010

BACKGROUND: Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is defined as the patient’s perception of their health status. HRQoL can be modified by illnesses, treatments or social and health policies. Chronic musculoskeletal pain is a modifying factor of HRQoL that leads to lower quality of life, elevated suffering and disability. Knowing HRQoL in subjects reporting chronic musculoskeletal symptoms (cMSS), like pain, discomfort or swollenness lasting more than 3 months, will provide information to health teams and organizations engaged in the Chilean health system. This study aim was to determine the relationship between HRQoL and musculoskeletal symptoms measured in three different Chilean groups: [1] without symptoms; [2] with acute symptoms; and [3] with cMSS. METHODS: A secondary analysis of the 2009–10 Chilean National Health Survey (NHS) was executed to determine the relationship between HRQoL (measured with SF-12) in three MSS groups. The Chilean NHS considered a national, probabilistic, stratified and multistage sample of 5293 participants aged 15 and older; it was representative at the national, urban-rural and regional levels. A multivariate logistic regression model studied the relationship between cMSS and HRQoL, adjusted for age, sex, educational level and residence area as control variables (p < 0.05). RESULTS: Out of 5293 participants in the NHS 2009–10, 5276 subjects were included for analysis. The median age was 46 years (IQR 31–60), 59.4% women, a median of 10 years formal education (IQR 7–12) and an urban residence in 85.2% of the population of the NHS 2009–10. The observed population prevalence of people with cMSS was 42.6% (95% CI 40.4–44.9). Presence of cMSS is a risk factor for low HRQoL, exhibited both in the physical (OR 3.1 95% CI 2.7–3.5) and mental (OR 1.9 95% CI 1.6–2,) HRQoL dimensions, independent of control variables. CONCLUSIONS: Physical and mental HRQoL are affected in people with cMSS, low educational level and advanced age. This is especially seen in women. This information will facilitate assessment and treatment of cMSS as a prevalent and multidimensional health problem.