Quality of Life in Coronary Artery Disease: SF-36 Compared to WHOQOL-BREF

The Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) and WHO Quality of Life-BREF (WHOQOL-BREF) questionnaires are two common tools to assess changes in quality of life (QOL) over the course of treatment, especially in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD). However, the value of these two instruments among CAD patients has not been studied and compared. The objective of the present study was; therefore, to compare the SF-36 with the WHOQOL-BREF in these patients. Between May and September 2006, patients with a final diagnosis of CAD who were candidates for isolated coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) and hospitalized in Tehran Heart Center were randomly divided into two groups of 268 patients (for assessment of QOL with the SF-36) and 275 patients (for assessment of QOL with the WHOQOL-BREF). The correlations between the WHOQOL-BREF domains and SF-36 subscales, in addition to those between the SF-36 components summary scores and WHOQOL-BREF domains, were examined with Pearson''s correlation coefficients. The correlations between the physical, psychological, and social domains of the WHOQOL-BREF and physical functioning, mental health, and social functioning of the SF-36 were weak with Pearson''s correlation coefficients of 0.015, -0.036, and 0.042, respectively (r<0.3). There were also poor correlations between the physical component summary of the SF-36 and physical domain of the WHOQOL-BREF (r=0.001), and between the mental component summary of the SF-36 and mental domain of the WHOQOL-BREF (r=-0.082). The correlation between the two questionnaires of the SF-36 and WHOQOL-BREF in the evaluation of QOL in CAD patients is weak.