Prevalence of common chronic diseases and its influences on health-related quality of life among general population aged 15 years and over in China

Objective To explore the prevalence of common chronic diseases and its influences on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) among general population aged 15 years and over in China,and to provide evidence-based references for chronic disease intervention and prevention and the allocation of health resources.Methods Data were obtained from the Fifth National Health Service Survey (NHSS) organized by Center for Health Statistics and Information of National Health and Family Planning Commission conducted in 2013.The prevalence of chronic disease among Chinese population aged 15 and over was analyzed and 10 common chronic diseases were selected according to the prevalence ranking of the diseases.A cumulated synthetic index derived by Sun for HRQoL was generated using European Quality of Life-5 Dimensions (EQ-5D).The HRQoL of patients with different chronic diseases were compared;the losses of quality of life due to chronic diseases were evaluated and then the quality-adjusted life year (QALY) losses and economic loss were estimated accordingly.Results The overall prevalence of chronic diseases among the population aged 15 years and over was 33.0%(30.9% and 34.9% for the males and the females);the top ten chronic diseases with higher prevalence were hypertension,diabetes,intervertebral disc disease,other skeletal and muscular system diseases,cerebrovascular disease,acute and chronic gastroenteritis,other heart diseases,arthritis,other ischemic heart diseases,and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (COPD) and the ten chronic diseases accounted for 79.7% of all of the patients (75 866) identified.The results of multivariate linear regression revealed that chronic disease was associated with HRQoL loss of different degrees among the patients after adjusting for age and gender.The chronic disease-related synthetic index for HRQoL loss in a descending order was 0.122 for cerebrovascular disease,0.102 for other skeletal and muscular system diseases,0.101 for arthritis,0.084 for hypertension,0.084 for intervertebral disc disease,0.048 for COPD,0.043 for acute and chronic gastroenteritis,0.040 for other heart diseases,0.040 for other ischemic heart diseases,and 0.036 for diabetes (P<0.001 for all).The estimated total annual QALY loss due to the prevalence of the top 10 chronic diseases was 16 655 592 years and the estimated total annual economic loss was about 6 980 025 591 Yuan RMB in 2013.Conclusion The prevalence of chronic disease is relatively high and results in the loss of quality of life,heavy disease burden and economic loss among Chinese adult population,suggesting that intervention on major chronic diseases should be promoted in the population.