Comparison of SF-36 and WHOQOL-100 in patients with stroke.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Two widely used evaluation tools for the quality of life are the 36-item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) and World Health Organization Quality of Life Assessment (100-item version) (WHOQOL-100), however, these tools have not been compared for patients with stroke to date. The specific objectives of this study were: 1) to study the effect of stroke on quality of life (QOL) as measured by the SF-36 and by the WHOQOL-100, and 2) to compare these two instruments. SETTINGS AND DESIGN Seventy patients who were admitted to the neurology clinic six months after stroke were included in this study. PATIENTS AND METHODS As a data-collecting device, the SF-36 and WHOQOL-100 scales were used. An additional questionnaire was administered to obtain demographic data. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS Pearson correlation analysis was performed and Blant-Altman Plots were used. Psychometric analysis was performed. RESULTS In stroke, the most flustered domains of quality of life were vitality and general health perception fields in the SF-36 and in the WHOQL-100, independence level field, overall QOL and general health perceptions. While there was a fair degree of relationship (r= 0.25-0.50) between general health perceptions, physical, social and mental fields that were similar fields of scales, a fair and moderate to good relationship was found between different fields. Limits of agreement in similar domains of the two instruments were very large. In all four demonstrated Bland-Altman plots, there was agreement of the scales in the measurements of similar fields of quality of life. CONCLUSION This study demonstrated that both the SF-36 and WHOQOL-100 quality of life scales are useful in the practical evaluation of patients with stroke.