[The SF-36 in the Federal Health Survey--description of a current normal sample].

The German National Health Interview and Examination Survey 1998 included the Short Form 36-Questionnaire as an instrument for measuring health-related quality of life. As a result of the subjective assessment by 6964 survey participants aged between 18 and 80 years a description of a new German normative population sample is given. Using the same statistical parameters as in the description of the normative German sample from 1994 a time comparison can be made.