Health-related quality of life in hoarding: A comparison to chronic conditions with high disease burden

Hoarding disorder often results in debilitating functional impairment and may also compromise health-related quality of life (QoL). This study investigated the association between hoarding behavior and QoL relative to six highly impairing medical and psychiatric disorders in a sample of 20,722 participants enrolled in the internetbased Brain Health Registry. Nearly 1 in 8 participants (12.2%) endorsed clinically relevant hoarding symptoms (CHS). In separate multivariable linear regression models, hoarding was more strongly associated with mental QoL than diabetes (Standardized beta =-0.21, 95% CI: [-0.22,-0.20] vs.-0.01 [-0.02, 0.0]), heart disease (-0.22 [-0.23,-0.20] vs. 0.00 [-0.02, 0.01]), chronic pain (-0.18 [-0.19,-0.16] vs.-0.12 [-0.13,-0.10]), post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD;-0.20 [-0.22,-0.19] vs.-0.07 [-0.09,-0.06]), and substance use disorder (SUD;-0.21 [-0.23,-0.20] vs.-0.04 [-0.05,-0.03]). Similarly, CHS was more strongly negatively associated with physical QoL than diabetes (-0.11 [-0.10,-0.12] vs.-0.08 [-0.06,-0.09]), major depressive disorder mental (Standardized beta =-0.28, Delta R2 = 0.08, p < 0.0001) and physical (beta =-0.12, Delta R2 = 0.02, p < 0.0001) QoL, though the strength of the relationship between hoarding symptoms and QoL varied with depression severity. Efforts to improve the overall QoL and well-being of those with CHS are needed.

Automated summary

This study investigated the association between hoarding behavior and quality of life (QoL), revealing that hoarding is more strongly associated with mental and physical QoL than other highly impairing medical and psychiatric disorders, including diabetes, heart disease, chronic pain, post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and substance use disorder (SUD).