International Normative Values for the SF-36 in Patients With Ischemic Heart Disease

Abstract

Background: Health-related quality of life (HRQL) has become an important health care outcome in the past decades, especially in patients with chronic diseases. The aim of the study was to generate normative data for patients with ischemic heart disease, i.e., angina, myocardial infarction, or heart failure, for the most widely used generic HRQL measure, the Short Form 36 Health Survey. Methods: Cross-sectional data were collected in 22 countries including patients from Western and Eastern Europe, Scandinavia, Mediterranean, and English-language regions with speaking one of 15 languages (N=7647; age 62 years; female 24,9%). Mean scores and standard deviations were calculated to identify heart-specific normative HRQL data; linear regressions and T-tests were used to explore specific patterns. Findings: Females report lower HRQL for all scales; younger patients report better physical HRQL whereas older subjects report better mental HRQL. Mean scores of the eight scales (1-100) for the countries range from 21.5 (role-physical, Hungary) to 83.6 (social functioning, Denmark). Discussion: The key to the interpretation of HRQL is having normative data for patients with ischemic heart disease.