title: Self-reported health status in coronary heart disease patients: a comparison with the general population.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The aim of our study was to compare Euroqol-5D (EQ-5D) outcomes in coronary heart disease (CHD) patients with those from the general population. We aimed to identify those dimensions which were mostly impaired.
  
  
  METHODS
  EQ-5D results (both the dimensions and the EQ-5D visual analogue scale (EQ-VAS)) from a European sample (11 countries) of coronary patients were compared with published age- and gender-specific normative data.
  
  
  RESULTS
  EQ-5D outcomes differed across countries and gender. Overall, the age-adjusted EQ-VAS scores were significantly lower in coronary patients compared with the general population, both in males (mean difference (MD)= -5.24(-7.59 to -2.88)) and in females (MD= -8.32 (-11.69 to -4.95)). Coronary patients had a significantly higher risk to report moderate or severe problems related to anxiety/depression (odds ratio (OR) male=1.84 (1.14-2.95); OR female=3.20 (2.32-4.40)). Furthermore, female coronary patients reported more problems on the mobility (OR=2.00 (1.38-2.90)), usual activity (OR= 2.54 (1.81-3.57)) and pain/discomfort dimension (OR=1.73 (1.23-2.43)) whereas in males, a borderline significant OR was found on the mobility (OR=1.43 (0.97-2.11)) and usual activity dimension (OR=1.44 (0.94-2.20)). The difference between the general population and the CHD patients attenuated as age increased.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  CHD has a negative influence on patient's self-reported health status, both the EQ-VAS as well as the EQ-5D dimensions (with the exception of self-care in both genders and pain/discomfort in males) were impaired. The relative impairment was the greatest in female patients and the differences in the proportion of reported problems diminished with increasing age. The EQ-5D instrument is appropriate in capturing problems related to anxiety/depression, pain/discomfort, mobility and usual activities. Within clinical practice, particular attention should be given to females and younger CHD patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Ghent University, Belgium Delphine.desmedt@ugent.be.
authors.forename: Delphine
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: De Smedt
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Ghent University, Belgium.
authors.forename: Els
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Clays
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Ghent University, Belgium I-CHER (Interuniversity Centre for Health Economics Research), Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Lieven
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Annemans
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Ghent University, Belgium.
authors.forename: Sofie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pardaens
authors.affiliation: International Centre for Circulatory Health, Imperial College London, UK.
authors.forename: Kornelia
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kotseva
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Ghent University, Belgium.
authors.forename: Dirk
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: De Bacquer
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology*; D005060:Europe; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011788:Quality of Life; D012649:Self Concept; D057566:Self Report; D012737:Sex Factors
keywords: Coronary heart disease; EQ-5D