Comparing the psychometric properties of preference-based and nonpreference-based health-related quality of life in coronary heart disease. Canadian Collaborative Cardiac Assessment Group.

A cross-sectional survey (n = 878) was conducted to compare the psychometric properties of three preference-based and one nonpreference-based health-related quality of life measures among healthy subjects with and without treatment for dyslipidemia and/or hypertension and patients with coronary heart disease (CHD). All measures were stable over a 3 to 6 week period. Compared to the Time Trade-off (TTO) and the Standard Gamble (SG), the Rating Scale (RS) correlated with the SF-36 Health Survey most highly. In contrast to the SF-36 General Health Perception (GHP), the SF-36 Physical Component scale and the RS, the TTO and SG were less able to discriminate CHD patients with various levels of physical disability. Only the SF-36 GHP subscale and the RS were able to differentiate healthy participants from participants receiving dyslipidemia and/or hypertension treatment. Neither the SF-36 Physical or Mental Component scales were able to discriminate these two groups. Overall, these results suggest that unlike the RS, the TTO and the SG, as administered in this study, may not be sufficiently sensitive to measure the impact of primary cardiovascular disease prevention strategies on the health-related quality of life of the participants.