A 36-item short-form (SF-36) was constructed to survey health status in the Medical Outcomes Study. The SF-36 was designed for use in clinical practice and research, health policy evaluations, and general population surveys. The SF-36 includes one multi-item scale that assesses eight health concepts: 1) limitations in physical activities because of health problems; 2) limitations in social acti...

OBJECTIVES To analyse the quality of life (QoL) of persons over 60 years of age in Bizkaia (Basque Country, Spain), not institutionalised and without cognitive impairment, and the relation and possible influence of the perception of the state of health with the cognitive level and the activities that they carry out. SUBJECTS AND METHODS Evaluation of a sample of 317 persons that belong to a l...

THE AIM OF THE STUDY The aim of the study is to evaluate the impact of sociodemographic factors on the quality of life (QOL) in 45-65-year-old women. MATERIAL AND METHODS The research by means of a survey method, postal questionnaire technique, comprised 2143 women - a representative sample of the female population living in Lublin Province. Three standardized questionnaires - WHOQOL-BREF, Wo...

OBJECTIVES The aim of the study reported here was to investigate whether the use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) impacts on the clinical management of patients presenting with chronic knee problems, reduces costs, and improves patient outcome. METHODS A single-center randomized controlled trial was conducted. Patients attending with knee problems in whom surgery was being considered were ...

OBJECTIVE To investigate by a cross sectional study in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) the relationship between measures of impairment, activity limitation, and participation of the model of functioning and disability (ICIDH-2). METHODS Inclusion data of patients with RA (n=803) from the Swiss Clinical Quality Management Group were used. Impairments were measured by the Short Form-36 ...

BACKGROUND Outcomes validate program performance and patient benefits received from cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation. However, outcomes have little meaning without test standardization and the ability to benchmark data with other programs. The purpose of this article is to demonstrate the feasibility for measuring standardized outcomes in a large number of rehabilitation programs. METHODS...

OBJECTIVES We aimed first to summarise minimal clinically important differences (MCIDs) after total hip (THR) or knee replacement (TKR) in health-related quality of life (HRQoL), measured using the Short-Form 36 (SF-36). Secondly, we aimed to improve the precision of MCID estimates by means of meta-analysis. METHODS We conducted a systematic review of English and non-English articles using ME...

OBJECTIVE To determine how often health surveys and quality of life evaluations reach different conclusions from those of primary efficacy outcomes and whether discordant results make a difference in the interpretation of trial findings. DESIGN Systematic review. DATA SOURCES PubMed, contact with authors for missing information, and author survey for unpublished SF-36 data. STUDY SELECTIO...

The relationship between disability and health related quality of life (HRQL) is complex because of the role that function plays in the measurement, and certain points need to be dealt with in greater detail when the analysis is applied to the different dimensions of HRQL. The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of disability on different domains of quality of life. Variables were dr...