The Influence of Perceived Discrimination on Health-Related Quality of Life in an East Coast American Indian Tribe

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To examine the association of perceived discrimination and health-related quality of life using cross- sectional survey. METHODS: We measured perceived discrimination using a nine-item discrimination scale and measured health-related quality of life with the mental component summary (MCS) and physical component summary (PCS) scores of the Short Form-12 questionnaire. The sample was drawn from adult members of an East Coast American Indian Tribe. RESULTS: After adjusting for age, sex, marital status, education, and smoking status, perceived discrimination scores greater than the sample median were associated with higher odds of poor mental functioning (odds ratio = 2.25, 95% CI = 1.03-4.91) but not with poor physical functioning (odds ratio = 1.18, 95% CI = 0.53-2.63). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings support results from previous studies linking perceived discrimination to worse mental health outcomes.