A Short Form for Clinical Assessment of Quality of Life Among Hypertensive Patients

Recently, medical research studies and clinical trials have included quality-of-life assessments, which measure the biomedical, behavioral, and social dimensions of living as a major therapeutic end point. Monitoring the quality of life in routine clinical practice also has the potential to aid clinicians to evaluate the impact of new therapies on the health status of their patients. However, because quality-of-life assessment techniques are quite lengthy and often require the aid of a trained interviewer, the research format is not practical for the typical clinical setting. This study describes the formulation, construction, and testing of an abbreviated quality-of-life questionnaire suitable for the clinical assessment of hypertensive patients. The initial formulation was based on analyses of data from a large-scale clinical trial (626 hypertensive male patients). Using the data at baseline for this group, items were selected such that the variance, internal consistency, and concurrent validity of the response scales were maintained by a reduced subset of items. The sensitivity of the reduced subsets was evaluated using treatment data and found to be as sensitive to treatment differentials as the original research instrument was. A subsequent field test of 87 volunteer subjects indicated that the new shortened version had the qualities of stable internal consistency and test-retest reliability over two successive trials. The questionnaire was self-administered and required less than 10 minutes to complete. It was given as an adjunct to the history and physical exam.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)