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

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.