Measuring health-related quality of life in cardiac patients: Table 1

Abstract

This editorial refers to ‘Comparison of EQ-5D and 15D instruments for assessing the health-related quality of life in cardiac surgery patients’, by J. Heiskanen et al., on page 193. Assessment of health-related quality of life (HRQL) has become increasingly important in the management of cardiac patients. Many patients consider the quality of the additional life years gained just as important as length of life.1 Furthermore, there is evidence in cardiac patients that HRQL predicts adverse health outcomes including mortality and hospitalization, independent of more traditional risk factors.2–4 The goal of contemporary management, therefore, is not only simply to extend life expectancy but also to ensure a sufficiently high long-term HRQL, defined by emotional, social, and physical well-being.5,6 Several instruments exist and can be grouped as either generic or disease specific. Generic instruments are applicable across a range of target groups, allowing between-group comparisons and comparisons with the general population. Examples, included in Table 1 , are the EuroQol instrument (EQ-5D), 36-item short form health survey (SF-36), 12-item short-form health survey (SF-12), 15 Dimensions instrument (15D), Health Utility Index (HUI), and … [↵][1]*Corresponding author. Tel: +32 9 332 83 54; Fax: +32 9 332 49 94, Email: delphine.desmedt{at}ugent.be [1]: #xref-corresp-1-1