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

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.