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Is There Regional Variation in the SF-36 Scores of Canadian Adults?

2002; Springer Science+Business Media; Volume: 93; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1007/bf03405008

1920-7476

Wilma M. Hopman, Claudie Berger, Lawrence Joseph, Tanveer Towheed, Tassos Anastassiades, Alan Tenenhouse, Suzette Poliquin, Jacques P. Brown, Timothy M. Murray, Jonathan D. Adachi, David A. Hanley, Emmanuel Papadimitropoulos, Alan Tenenhouse, Suzette Poliquin, Suzanne Godmaire, Lawrence Joseph, Lucie Blondeau, Claudie Berger, Carol Joyce, Minnie Parsons, Roger S. Rittmaster, Susan Kirkland, Barbara Stanfield, Jacques P. Brown, Nathalie Migneault-Roy, Evelyne Lejeune, Tassos Anastassiades, Pamela Hartman, Barbara Matthews, Nancy Kreiger, Timothy M. Murray, Barbara Gardner-Bray, Jonathan D. Adachi, Laura Pickard, Wojciech P. Olszynski, Pat Krutzen, Jola Kedra, David A. Hanley, Jane Allan, Stuart Jackson, Loralee Robertson, Jerilynn C. Prior, Brian C. Lentle, Yvette M. Vigna,

Aging and Gerontology Research

Canadian normative data for the Medical Outcomes Study 36-item short form (SF-36) have recently been published. However, there is evidence from other countries to suggest that regional variation in health-related quality of life (HRQOL) may exist. We therefore examined the SF-36 data from nine Canadian centres for evidence of systematic differences.Bayesian hierarchical modelling was used to compare the differences in the eight SF-36 domains and the two summary component scores within each of the age and gender strata across the nine sites.Five domains and the two summary component scores showed little clinically important variation. Other than a small number of exceptions, there was little overall evidence of HRQOL differences across most domains and across most sites.Our finding of only a few small differences suggests that there is no need to develop region-specific Canadian normative data for the SF-36 health survey.