title: Medical Outcomes Study Short Form 36: a possible source of utilities?
abstract: General health-status questionnaires such as the Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) are frequently used to measure health-related quality of life. The SF-36, in its current form, cannot be used to measure individuals' utilities or preferences for their health state. Recently, several investigators have explored the possibility of obtaining utilities from the SF-36. This article reviews the SF-36 survey, selected measures of utility, and the differences between health-status and utility measures, with an emphasis on use of SF-36 results to derive utility scores. We searched the literature from January 1966 to July 1999 using MEDLINE and HEALTHSTAR. The terms SF-36, health-status instruments, utilities, and preferences were searched to identify studies that had used both the SF-36 and a utility-based instrument. We first discuss studies that were specifically designed to find a predictive equation to obtain utilities from SF-36 scores. We then discuss studies that examined the correlation between the SF-36 and a utility-based instrument but that were not intended to develop a predictive equation as their primary objective. The studies that have tried to derive utilities from the SF-36 using a predictive equation have used different methodologies; to date, no reliable method has been appropriately validated. The poor correlation reported in most of the studies attests to the complex relationship between utility-based instruments and the SF-36. More work is needed to elucidate if utilities can be obtained from the SF-36.
authors.affiliation: Office of Health Policy and Clinical Outcomes, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19107, USA.
authors.forename: D M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Meletiche
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Doshi
authors.forename: J H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Lofland
mesh_terms: D005568:Forms and Records Control / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires