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Substitution of SF-36 by SF-12 Among Hong Kong Chinese Older Adults: Secondary Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

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Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to examine the appropriateness of substituting the Short-Form 36 (SF-36) by its shortened version (SF-12) in measuring health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in older Chinese population.

Methods

Secondary analysis of two transitional care management programs, conducted from 2009 to 2012, were analyzed (n = 1188, aged 60–97). Participants were discharged patients with respiratory disease, type 2 diabetes, cardiac disease, and renal disease, and were classified according to number of chronic diseases. SF-36 was administered at baseline and 4-week follow-up.

Results

Both overestimations and underestimations of HRQoL by SF-12 were found. Most domain scores of SF-36 and SF-12 were highly correlated (Spearman correlation (ρ) > 0.85), with the exception of General Health (ρ = 0.64) and Vitality subscales (ρ = 0.82). Multiple linear regression adjusted for demographic characteristics showed that the four out of eight domains of SF-36 and SF-12 were equivalent in measuring the difference across numbers of chronic diseases (all p < 0.05). Paired sample t tests in 989 (83.2 %) who completed the SF-36 survey 4 weeks after baseline showed that SF-12 overestimated the 4-week changes in most of the domains.

Conclusions

The use of the Chinese version of SF-12v2 for reporting the change over time in quality of life among medical patients after hospital discharge may need to be interpreted with caution. The SF-12 tends to underestimate the difference when compared with the SF-36.

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Acknowledgments

The health-social partnership transitional care management program was supported by The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust (PolyU Account 5ZH60) and the enhanced transitional care management program was supported by a grant from the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China (RGC Ref No. 547909). The funding bodies were not involved in study design, data collection, data analysis, interpretation, writing the report, nor the decision to submit the article for publication.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Nursing, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, GH519, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong

    Paul H. Lee, Frances K. Y. Wong, Shao Ling Wang & Susan K. Y. Chow

Authors
  1. Paul H. Lee
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  2. Frances K. Y. Wong
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  3. Shao Ling Wang
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  4. Susan K. Y. Chow
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Frances K. Y. Wong.

Ethics declarations

All procedures in this study followed the ethical standards with the Declaration of Helsinki. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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Lee, P.H., Wong, F.K.Y., Wang, S.L. et al. Substitution of SF-36 by SF-12 Among Hong Kong Chinese Older Adults: Secondary Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials. Int.J. Behav. Med. 23, 635–644 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12529-016-9542-2

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