title: Health-related quality of life evaluated by the eight-item short form after cardiovascular surgery.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Owing to advances in cardiovascular surgery, patients with cardiovascular disease require improvement of health-related quality of life (QOL) than before. We measured the QOL of patients undergoing cardiovascular surgery using the eight-item Short Form (SF-8) and assessed its usefulness.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a prospective repeated-measures observational study. The SF-8 questionnaire was completed through interviews with 117 consecutive adult patients undergoing cardiovascular surgery at a single center (Nagara Medical Center, Japan) from April 2006 to March 2008. The SF-8 was evaluated before surgery and at 7 days, 1 month, and 6 months after surgery. The physical and mental scores over time were assessed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Regarding physical status, compared with the normal population, the patients' scores were worse preoperatively and had deteriorated 7 days postoperatively; they gradually got closer to preoperative status a month after the procedure. At 6 months after surgery, all physical scores were higher than before surgery. The mental scores, including a mental component summary score, were inferior to those of the normal population until 1 month postoperatively, and they reached those of the normal population at 6 months.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The SF-8 changed with the postoperative time course. It was a useful tool for analyzing the physical and mental QOL of patients who underwent cardiovascular surgery.
authors.affiliation: National Hospital Organization Nagara Medical Center, Gifu, Japan.
authors.forename: Takayoshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kato
authors.forename: Shinji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tomita
authors.forename: Nobuhiro
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Handa
authors.forename: Yo-ichiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ueno
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D013504:Cardiovascular Surgical Procedures / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health; D008875:Middle Aged; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011788:Quality of Life; D020127:Recovery of Function; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome