Quality of life among women of reproductive age during the accumulation of multiple chronic conditions.

PURPOSE: We examined the temporal association between the number of chronic conditions and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) among women of reproductive age and assessed how individual conditions affected specific HRQOL dimensions. METHODS: Data from 9323 women born between 1973 and 1978 who participated in the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health and had no chronic health condition at the baseline survey were analysed. Linear mixed-effects models examined the temporal association between the number of conditions and SF-36 HRQOL and also compared HRQOL between women with and without six conditions: musculoskeletal disorders, diabetes, asthma, endometriosis, uterine fibroids, and cancer. RESULTS: Women who remained free of conditions during ages 18 to 49 maintained stable physical component scores (PCS) and improved mental component scores (MCS). Accumulating conditions was associated with declining scores, more in PCS than MCS. The largest and smallest decline per an additional condition was observed in role physical (6.5 points; 95% CI 6.0, 7.0) and mental health (1.2 points; 0.9, 1.5). Within-group analysis found that all conditions were associated with PCS decline. Effects on MCS varied by condition and outcome. Between-group comparisons revealed that women with musculoskeletal disorders, diabetes, or asthma had lower PCS and MCS scores than women without those conditions. Endometriosis, uterine fibroids, and cancer showed smaller and more dimension-specific reductions. CONCLUSION: Women who did not develop chronic conditions maintained their PCS scores and had improvements in MCS scores. This underscores the value of preventing chronic conditions in early and mid-adulthood for maintaining physical and mental well-being.