Construct validity of the Assessment of Quality of Life - 6D (AQoL-6D) in community samples

Table 2 Sample characteristics and comparisons by cohort and phase

	Baseline – cohort comparisons				Follow up – cohort comparisons				Phase comparisons
	HCS	ARMHS	Overall	p	HCS	ARMHS	Overall	p	HCS	ARMHS	Overall
									p	p	p
Sample N	2884	1987	4871		1933	1111	3044
Socio demographic characteristics
Age (SD)	65.83 (7.59)	55.91 (4.03)	61.77 (11.76)	**	69.19 (7.13)	58.35 (12.9)	65.24 (10.96)	**	**	**	**
Female %	51.9	60.3	55.3	**	51.2	61.0	54.8	**	ns	ns	ns
Married/defacto %	75.3	71.2	73.6	**	75.4	78.6	76.6	ns	ns	**	*
High school complete %	77.8	71.3	75.2	**	81.3	76.3	79.5	**	*	*	**
Retired %	61.8	36.1	37.8	**	76.9	36.0	62.2	**	**	ns	**
Indices of personal functioning (mean, SD)
Psychological distress (K10)	14.41 (5.31)	14.62 (5.16)	14.5 (5.25)	ns	13.67 (4.85)	13.48 (4.44)	13.6 (4.70)	ns	**	**	**
Life satisfaction (SWL)	.	25.82 (6.44)	.	.	25.51 (6.08)	24.74 (6.30)	25.22 (6.18)	**	.	**	**
Body Mass Index	28.70 (4.85)	28.07 (5.45)	28.43 (5.12)	**	.	.	.	.	.	.	.
Mental Health (SF-36)	79.72 (15.73)	.	.	.	79.84 (15.53)	.	.	.	ns	.	ns
Physical Functioning (SF-36)	73.31 (24.15)	.	.	.	74.07 (24.14)	.	.	.	ns	.	ns
FEV (litres)	2.43 (0.70)	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.
TUG (seconds)	9.33 (2.71)	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.
Steps per day (1000’s)	6.87 (3.18)	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.

Note. * p < .01; ** p < .001; physical and psychological health indices did not deviate remarkably from available age relevant norms for these measures: K10 [30]; SWL [18]; BMI [31]; SF-36 [32]; forced expiratory volume (FEV) [33]; and timed up and go (TUG) [34, 35]; while HCS step counts are similar to those of older persons in Switzerland, though greater than those in Colorado [36].

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