title: Is there regional variation in the SF-36 scores of Canadian adults?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Canadian normative data for the Medical Outcomes Study 36-item short form (SF-36) have recently been published. However, there is evidence from other countries to suggest that regional variation in health-related quality of life (HRQOL) may exist. We therefore examined the SF-36 data from nine Canadian centres for evidence of systematic differences.
  
  
  METHODS
  Bayesian hierarchical modelling was used to compare the differences in the eight SF-36 domains and the two summary component scores within each of the age and gender strata across the nine sites.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Five domains and the two summary component scores showed little clinically important variation. Other than a small number of exceptions, there was little overall evidence of HRQOL differences across most domains and across most sites.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our finding of only a few small differences suggests that there is no need to develop region-specific Canadian normative data for the SF-36 health survey.
authors.affiliation: MacKenzie Health Services Research Group, Department of Community Health and Epidemiology, 3rd Floor, Abramsky Hall, Queen's University, Kingston, ON K7L 3N6. hopmanw@post.queensu.ca
authors.forename: Wilma M
authors.initials: WM
authors.lastname: Hopman
authors.forename: Claudie
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Berger
authors.forename: Lawrence
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Joseph
authors.forename: Tanveer
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Towheed
authors.forename: Tassos
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Anastassiades
authors.forename: Alan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tenenhouse
authors.forename: Suzette
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Poliquin
authors.forename: Jacques P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.forename: Timothy M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Murray
authors.forename: Jonathan D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Adachi
authors.forename: David A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Hanley
authors.forename: Emmanuel A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Papadimitropoulos
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001499:Bayes Theorem; D002170:Canada / Q000453:epidemiology; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011788:Quality of Life; D018434:Sickness Impact Profile