Measuring population health: association of self-rated health and PROMIS measures with social determinants of health in a cross-sectional survey of the US population

BACKGROUND: Self-reported health-related quality of life is an important population health outcome, often assessed using a single question about self-rated health (SRH). The Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) is a new set of measures constructed using item response theory, so each item contains information about an underlying construct. This study’s objective is to assess the association between SRH and PROMIS scores and social determinants of health (SDoH) to evaluate the use of PROMIS for measuring population health. METHODS: A cross sectional survey of 4142 US adults included demographics, 7 PROMIS domains with 2 items each, the PROMIS-preference (PROPr) score, self-rated health (SRH), 30 social determinants of health (SDoH), and 12 chronic medical conditions. SDoH and chronic condition impact estimates were created by regressing the outcome (PROMIS domain, PROPr, or SRH) on demographics and SDoH or a single chronic condition. Linear regression was used for PROMIS domains and PROPr; ordinal logistic regression was used for SRH. RESULTS: Both SRH and PROPr detected statistically significant differences for 11 of 12 chronic conditions. Of the 30 SDoH, 19 statistically significant differences were found by SRH and 26 statistically significant differences by PROPr. The SDoH with statistically significant differences included those addressing education, income, financial insecurity, and social support. The number of statistically significant differences found for SDoH varies by individual PROMIS domains from 13 for Sleep Disturbance to 25 for Physical Function. CONCLUSIONS: SRH is a simple single question that provides information about health-related quality of life. The 14 item PROMIS measure used in this study detects more differences in health-related quality of life for social determinants of health than SRH. This manuscript illustrates the relative costs and benefits of each approach to measuring health-related quality of life.