Comparisons of the Nottingham Health Profile and the SF-36 health survey for the assessment of quality of life in individuals with chronic stroke.

BACKGROUND Appropriate instruments for the assessment of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) domains are useful for planning therapeutic interventions for individuals with stroke. The generic quality of life (QOL) instruments, Short Form Health Survey-36 (SF-36) and Nottingham Health Profile (NHP), have been frequently employed in the Brazilian literature. However, the literature is still scarce regarding their psychometric properties when applied to stroke individuals. OBJECTIVES To compare the Brazilian versions of the SF-36 and the NHP to verify which had better psychometric properties for the assessment of HRQOL in 120 individuals with chronic stroke. METHOD Spearman correlation coefficients were calculated to examine the comparable domains and total scores of the SF-36 and the NPH; Cronbach's alpha coefficients, to evaluate internal consistency; intra-class correlation coefficients, to assess reliability; and Bland-Altman plots, to assess the levels of agreement, with a significance level of 5%. RESULTS Significant positive associations were observed between the common domains and the total scores of the SF-36 and the NPH. Ceiling effects were more frequent for the NPH. The total scores of both instruments achieved adequate reliability levels, and the agreement levels were within the normal limits in 95% of the cases. CONCLUSIONS The SF-36 and the NPH were shown to measure similar constructs and proved to be useful measures for the assessment of QOL of chronic stroke subjects. However, the SF-36 yielded better results and appeared to be more appropriate.