Health-Related Quality of Life in Later Life: Aung Zaw Zaw Phyo

Given that older individuals are at a higher risk of adverse health outcomes, the rapid growth in the global ageing population is accompanied by an increase in years of life lived with disability or in poor health. Identifying older individuals most at risk of developing agerelated diseases such as cardiovascular disease (CVD) and dementia, would support the implementation of preventive interventions to reduce the associated socioeconomic burden on society and increase years lived without disability. In contemporary healthcare, integrating patients’ views into clinical practice has been increasingly considered as an essential aspiration. Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) is the self-reported measure that assesses an individual’s perception of their health status. Lower HRQoL has been shown to predict rehospitalisation and subsequent mortality in patient populations; and has the potential to predict future health outcomes in the general community. Aung and colleagues investigated whether the physical (PCS) or mental component score (MCS) of HRQoL predict incident CVD, cognitive decline, dementia, and all-cause mortality among community-dwelling older individuals from Australians and the United States, enrolled in the ASPirin in Reducing Events in the Elderly (ASPREE) study. Based on the findings, the research group then identified trajectories of PCS over 5-years and examined whether these PCS trajectories predict subsequent risk of fatal and non-fatal CVD, and all-cause mortality in this cohort. Finally, they explored whether economic factors, social health or stressful life events impact PCS trajectories among older Australians. The research team’s results demonstrate the predictive power of HRQoL for the risk of health outcome; a new, much needed and overlooked perspective in the multidimensional approach to chronic disease prevention in older individuals, suggesting that HRQoL could complement traditional objective measures (e.g., blood pressure, body mass index, and lipid levels) during standard outpatient health risk assessment in primary care as a means of reducing future disease risk. This suggestion is also consistent with recommendations of the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care to incorporate HRQoL into the health system as a policy goal. In recognition of the quality and significance of his research, Aung Zaw Zaw Phyo is the Second Prize Winner in the Biomedical and Health Sciences category for the Royal Society of Victoria's Young Scientist Research Prizes in 2022.