COMPARISON OF 3 QUALITY-OF-LIFE INSTRUMENTS IN STABLE ANGINA-PECTORIS- SEATTLE ANGINA QUESTIONNAIRE, SHORT-FORM HEALTH SURVEY (SF-36), ANDQUALITY-OF-LIFE INDEX CARDIAC VERSION-III

Three instruments for the assessment of quality of life, the Seattle A ngina Questionnaire (SAQ), the Short Form Health Survey (SF-36), and t he Quality of Life Index-Cardiac Version III (QLI) were administered t o 107 patients with stable angina pectoris in a longitudinal randomize d trial comparing the use of alternative anginal medications in the ma nagement of chronic stable angina pectoris. This study demonstrated th at differences in angina severity as measured by the Canadian Cardiova scular Society Classification (CCSC) were related to each of the SAR s ubscales, to selected subscales of the SF-36, but not to the QLI. All quality of life (QOL) instruments demonstrated acceptable test-retest reliability when administered over a 2-week interval. Neither the SF-3 6 nor the QLI were discriminative of angina severity or sensitive to c hanges in CCSC angina classification. Both the SAQ and QLI detected ch anges in heart disease related QOL over time. (C) 1998 Elsevier Scienc e Inc.