Summary: Not much is known about cross-geographic region differences in quality of life (QoL) in women with and without prevalent vertebral fractures (VFX). QoL differed between continents, countries, and ethnicities. The observed differences in QoL mostly appeared larger than the difference in QoL between women with or without mild to moderate VFX.
Introduction: Quality of life (QoL) is an increasingly important outcome measure in randomized controlled trials and cost-utility studies. However, not much is known about cross-geographic region differences in QoL. The objective of this study was to describe the cross-geographic region differences in QoL in women with and without mild to moderate prevalent vertebral fractures (VFX).
Methods: The study was performed using baseline data of the bazedoxifene study. The study was carried out in 25 countries in six continents (n = 7117). QoL was assessed using the index and Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) scores of the EQ-5D, Qualeffo-41, and Women's Health Questionnaire (WHQ). VFX were assessed using semi-quantitative and quantitative morphometric methods.
Results: In general, all four instruments followed more or less the same pattern. In most analyses, the reported QoL was lowest in Asia and Europe and highest in North America and Oceania. To examine the influence of ethnicity, North and South America were stratified on race. In both continents, a lower QoL was observed in Hispanic people.
Conclusions: QoL differed between continents, countries, and ethnicities. The observed differences in QoL appeared larger between most continents and countries than the difference in QoL between women with or without mild to moderate VFX.