Review of quality-of-life evaluations in patients with angina pectoris

Patients with angina pectoris have a reduced quality of life because of the ir symptoms, impaired activity and anxiety. However, there is no consensus on the best method of measuring quality of life. A systematic literature se arch of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) in angina showed that the most common generic questionnaire was the Nottingham Health Profile (NHP) Part I , and the most common angina-specific measure was the Quality-of-Life after Acute Myocardial Infarction Questionnaire. A comparison of NHP scores with those of the healthy population revealed that patients with angina particu larly seem to experience a lack of energy, poor sleep and decreased physica l mobility. In the RCTs evaluated, antianginal drugs did not show a signifi cant benefit over placebo in terms of quality of life. As a result of a lac k of valid data from RCTs, a strong conclusion regarding the impact of reva scularisation procedures on quality of life could not be derived.