Factors associated with Health-Related Quality of Life in Hispanic population with mental disorders using medical expenditure panel survey 2013-2017

There is a lack of U.S. population-based research surrounding the marked decrease in health-related quality of life (HRQoL) caused by the morbidity of mental disorders in the U.S. Hispanic demographic. This cross-sectional study utilized data from the 2013-2017 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) to identify Hispanic community-dwelling residents with mental disorders in the U.S. The independent variable was the presence of mental disorders, and the dependent variable was HRQoL. HRQoL was measured with the Short Form 12 (SF-12) Physical Health Composite Scale (PCS) and Mental Health Composite Scale (MCS). A total of 34,434 patients met the inclusion criteria, representing about 38,683,299 Hispanic individuals. Of this group, those older than 18 were stratified by the presence of mental disorders. The two groups were those with mental disorders: 4,122 individuals representing a sample size of 4,789,634; and those without mental disorders: 30,312 individuals representing a sample size of 33,893,665. Based on our study, Hispanic patients with mental disorders were associated with lower HRQoL scores. SF-12 PCS scores (95% CI) were 45.3 (44.5, 46.1) for those with mental disorders and 50.8 (50.5, 51.0) for those without mental disorders. SF-12 MCS scores (95% CI) were 42.6 (42, 43.3) in patients with mental disorders and 52.6 (52.3, 52.8) in patients without mental disorders. These differences in scores denote the impact of mental health disorders on HRQoL scores in the Hispanic demographic and mark the way for further research on identifying means of improving such scores for Hispanic patients.