[Quality of life in patients with Japanese cedar pollinosis: using the SF-8 health status questionnaire (Japanese version)].
BACKGROUND
The number of patients with Japanese cedar pollinosis (JCP) is increasing, and now, has extended up to about 15% of the Japanese. It is reported that the QOL is an important outcome in the JCP treatment. This study aimed to evaluate the QOL in patients with JCP by means of the SF-8 Health Survey (Japanese Version), a new, even shorter generic health survey.


METHODS
411 patients with JCP who visited 10 ENT clinics in Osaka from March 14 to March 26 (peak pollen season) were questioned, and 204 patients without any treatments in this season were engaged in this study as subjects. In this study, the QOL scores were evaluated using the SF-8. This is an 8-item version of the SF-36 that yields a comparable 8-dimension health profile and comparable estimates of summary scores for the physical and mental components of health.


RESULTS
The QOL score depressed in the patients with JCP compared with healthy subjects (Japanese national norms). Both Mental Component Score (MCS) and Physical Component Score (PCS) scores decreased more in females than in males. In females, MCS were significantly lower than national norms. The older the patients were, the lower PCS scores were showed. The severity of nasal symptoms influenced the PCS scores.


CONCLUSIONS
These results showed the tendency similar to the early studies using SF-36 questionnaire. The sensitivity of SF-8 in the individual is not better than that of other specific QOL questionnaires, but SF-8 can be answered in a short time compared with other questionnaires including SF-36. We suggested that SF-8 become a useful questionnaire in the future.
Fujii
Tsukasa
T
Graduate School of Allied Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Osaka University.
Ogino
Satoshi
S
Arimoto
Hiroe
H
Irifune
Morihiro
M
Iwata
Nobuko
N
Ookawachi
Ichiro
I
Kikumori
Hiroshi
H
Seo
Ritsu
R
Takeda
Mariko
M
Tamaki
Akiko
A
Baba
Kenji
K
Nose
Michihiro
M
D000485:Allergens / Q000276:immunology*; D032485:Cryptomeria; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D011058:Pollen / Q000276:immunology*; D011788:Quality of Life; D006255:Rhinitis, Allergic, Seasonal / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000276:immunology* / Q000523:psychology; D012621:Seasons; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
D000485:Allergens