Comparison of the short form (SF)-12 health status instrument with the SF-36 in patients with coronary heart disease.
Müller-Nordhorn J, Roll S, Willich SN.
Institute of Social Medicine, Epidemiology and Health Economics, Charité University Medical Center, Berlin, Germany. jacqueline.mueller-nordhorn@charite.de
OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether a shorter health status instrument, the short form (SF)-12, is comparable with its longer version, the SF-36, for measuring health related quality of life of patients with coronary heart disease. DESIGN: Prospective cohort study with follow up at six and 12 months. SETTING: 18 cardiac rehabilitation centres in Germany. PATIENTS: Patients were enrolled at admission to the rehabilitation centres after myocardial infarction, coronary artery bypass grafting, and percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty. ANALYSES: Correlation coefficients were calculated between SF-12 and SF-36 physical component summary (PCS-12/-36) and mental component summary (MCS-12/-36) scores and the respective change scores. Responsiveness to change was determined with the standardised response mean. Main results: 2441 patients were enrolled (78% men, mean (SD) age 60 (10) years; 22% women, 65 (10) years). Baseline PCS-12 and PCS-36 scores were highly correlated (r = 0.96, p < 0.001), as were baseline MCS-12 and MCS-36 scores (r = 0.96, p < 0.001). Similarly, change scores between baseline and 12 months were highly correlated (PCS-12/-36: r = 0.94, p < 0.001; MCS-12/-36: r = 0.95, p < 0.001). There was no difference in standardised response means between the SF-12 and SF-36 scales. CONCLUSIONS: The SF-12 summary measures replicate well the SF-36 summary measures and show similar responsiveness to change. The SF-12 appears to be an efficient alternative to the SF-36 for the assessment of health related quality of life of patients with coronary heart disease.
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PMID: 15084550 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]PMCID: PMC1768233