title: The HeartQoL: part II. Validation of a new core health-related quality of life questionnaire for patients with ischemic heart disease.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Evaluation of health-related quality of life (HRQL) is important in improving the quality of patient care. The aim of this study was to determine the psychometric properties of the HeartQoL in patients with ischemic heart disease (IHD), specifically angina, myocardial infarction (MI), or ischemic heart failure.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data for the interim validation of the HeartQoL questionnaire were collected in (a) a cross-sectional survey and (b) a prospective substudy of patients undergoing either a percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) or referred to cardiac rehabilitation (CR) and were then analyzed to determine the reliability, validity, and responsiveness of the HeartQoL questionnaire.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We enrolled 6384 patients (angina, n = 2111, 33.1%; MI, n = 2351, 36.8%; heart failure, n = 1922, 30.1%) across 22 countries speaking 15 languages in the cross-sectional study and 730 patients with IHD in the prospective substudy. The HeartQoL questionnaire comprises 14-items with physical and emotional subscales and a global score (range 0-3 (poor to better HRQL). Cronbach's α was consistently ≥0.80; convergent validity correlations between similar HeartQoL and SF-36 subscales were significant (r ≥ 0.60, p < 0.001); discriminative validity was confirmed with predictor variables: health transition, anxiety, depression, and functional status. HeartQoL score changes following either PCI or CR were significant (p < 0.001) with effect sizes ranging from 0.37-0.64.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The HeartQoL questionnaire is reliable, valid, and responsive to change allowing clinicians and researchers to (a) assess baseline HRQL, (b) make between-diagnosis comparisons of HRQL, and (c) evaluate change in HRQL in patients with angina, MI, or heart failure with a single IHD-specific HRQL instrument.
authors: School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Wisconsin, USA.
authors: Neil
authors: N
authors: Oldridge
authors: Stefan
authors: S
authors: Höfer
authors: Hannah
authors: H
authors: McGee
authors: Ronan
authors: R
authors: Conroy
authors: Frank
authors: F
authors: Doyle
authors: Hugo
authors: H
authors: Saner
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004644:Emotions; D005060:Europe; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health; D008875:Middle Aged; D017202:Myocardial Ischemia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation / Q000628:therapy; D062645:Percutaneous Coronary Intervention; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011594:Psychometrics; D058996:Quality Improvement; D019984:Quality Indicators, Health Care; D011788:Quality of Life; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016896:Treatment Outcome