Assessment of health-related quality of life in Thai patients after heart surgery

Abstract

Abstract Background Little is known about health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of Thai patients after heart surgery. The Thai government initiated a cardiac surgery project to celebrate the 80th birthday anniversary of His Majesty The King. Objectives To evaluate the HRQoL of Thai patients after heart surgery, as part of the Thai government’s cardiac surgery project, and to investigate the association of HRQoL instruments and patient characteristics. Methods Of 7,863 patients in the project, 386 were randomly selected for a telephone interview by trained researchers during June–November 2008. The HRQoL of Thai patients was measured using 12-item Short Form version 2 and EuroQoL (EQ-5D) plus an EQ-5D visual analog scale (EQ-VAS). Results The mean age of patient participants was 50.4 ± 13.7 years (range 17–82) and 49.5% were male. The Physical Component Summary (PCS) and Mental Component Summary (MCS) scores were reported as 46.91 and 54.44, respectively, compared with the US norm scores of 50. The EQ-5D and EQ-VAS utility scores of 0.81 and 0.84 were comparable to those of Thai general population (0.77–0.84), but higher than those of Thai patients with heart disease (0.73–0.75). Patients with older age, female sex, unemployment, and presence of comorbidity rated a lower HRQoL. The multiple linear regression models showed that both EQ-5D and EQ-VAS were associated with PCS and MCS and could be predicted by 40%–50%. Conclusion Overall, the HRQoL of patients after the heart surgery was satisfactory. The QoL in patients with a specific types of heart surgery warrants further study.