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.