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Substitution of SF-36 by SF-12 Among Hong Kong Chinese Older Adults: Secondary Analysis of Randomized Controlled
Paul H Lee1, Frances K Y Wong2, Shao Ling Wang1
1School of Nursing, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, GH519, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong.
Purpose:
This study aims to examine the appropriateness of substituting the Short-Form 36 (SF-36) by its shortened version (SF-12) in measuring health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in older Chinese population.
Methods:
Secondary analysis of two transitional care management programs, conducted from 2009 to 2012, were analyzed (n = 1188, aged 60-97). Participants were discharged patients with respiratory disease, type 2 diabetes, cardiac disease, and renal disease, and were classified according to number of chronic diseases. SF-36 was administered at baseline and 4-week follow-up.
Results:
Both overestimations and underestimations of HRQoL by SF-12 were found. Most domain scores of SF-36 and SF-12 were highly correlated (Spearman correlation (ρ) > 0.85), with the exception of General Health (ρ = 0.64) and Vitality subscales (ρ = 0.82). Multiple linear regression adjusted for demographic characteristics showed that the four out of eight domains of SF-36 and SF-12 were equivalent in measuring the difference across numbers of chronic diseases (all p < 0.05). Paired sample t tests in 989 (83.2 %) who completed the SF-36 survey 4 weeks after baseline showed that SF-12 overestimated the 4-week changes in most of the domains.
Conclusions:
The use of the Chinese version of SF-12v2 for reporting the change over time in quality of life among medical patients after hospital discharge may need to be interpreted with caution. The SF-12 tends to underestimate the difference when compared with the SF-36.
