title: Readability estimates for commonly used health-related quality of life surveys.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To estimate readability of seven commonly used health-related quality of life instruments: SF-36, HUI, EQ-5D, QWB-SA, HALex, Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire (MLHFQ), and the NEI-VFQ-25.
  
  
  METHODS
  The Flesch-Kincaid (F-K) and Flesch Reading Ease (FRE) formulae were used to estimate readability for every item in each measure.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The percentage of items that require more than 5 years of formal schooling according to F-K was 50 for the EQ-5D, 53 for the SF-36, 80 for the VFQ-25, 85 for the QWB-SA, 100 for the HUI, HALex, and the MLHFQ. The percentage of items deemed harder than "easy" according to FRE was 50 for the SF-36, 67 for the EQ-5D, 79 for the QWB-SA, 80 for the VFQ-25, 100 for the HUI, HALex, and the MLHFQ.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  All seven surveys have a substantial number of items with high readability levels that may not be appropriate for the general population.
authors: Department of Health Services, UCLA School of Public Health, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1772, USA. shpaz@ucla.edu
authors: Sylvia H
authors: SH
authors: Paz
authors: Honghu
authors: H
authors: Liu
authors: Marie N
authors: MN
authors: Fongwa
authors: Leo S
authors: LS
authors: Morales
authors: Ron D
authors: RD
authors: Hays
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D002908:Chronic Disease; D032882:Comprehension; D004522:Educational Status; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D011788:Quality of Life; D018434:Sickness Impact Profile; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*