Abstract
To validate short-form-36 health survey (SF-36) with specific scoring algorithm obtained in a large sample of Chilean older people and to associate quality of life in this sample with social and health related factors. A cross-sectional study on 2,143 community-living subjects aged 60–92 years (33 % men and 67 % women) conducted in Santiago, Chile. Scores in 8 scales of SF-36-physical function (PF), role physical (RP), bodily pain (BP), general health (GH), vitality (VT), social functioning (SF), role emotional (RE) and mental health (MH)-, were calculated. Factor analysis was used to extract two principal factors and logistic regression model was applied to estimate its association with socio-demographic and health variables. The internal consistency of scales was high (Cronbach’s alpha 0.86–0.87). Factor analysis retained two factors: mental (MCS) and physical (PCS) components accounting for 65.3 % of total variance (55.3 and 10.0 % respectively). High correlations (0.61–0.94) between MCS and MH, V, RE and SF were obtained. PCS correlated highest (0.72–0.86) with RP, PF and BP. Self-perceived symptoms of depression (GDS-15 ≥5) was the main variable explaining low scores in both MCS and PCS (adjusted OR = 26.9; 95 % CI: 15.3–47.2; OR = 3.4; 95 % CI: 2.1–5.5, respectively). We have demonstrated the reliability and validity of SF-36 questionnaire to evaluate health related quality of life, reporting Chilean-Specific factor score coefficients for MCS and PCS based in national Chilean means and standard deviations for older people. After adjusting by age and gender, the main predictors of low health related QoL in Chilean older people were self-perceived symptoms of depression, the presence of two or more chronic diseases and illiteracy. Important gender inequalities were observed in all of these results, being consistently less favorable in women than in men.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Albala C, Lebrão ML, León Díaz EM, Ham-Chande R, Hennis AJ, Palloni A, Peláez M et al (2005) Encuesta salud, bienestar y envejecimiento (SABE): metodología de la encuesta y perfil de la población estudiada. Revista Panamericana de Salud Pública 17:307–322. doi:10.1590/S1020-49892005000500003
Albala C, Sánchez H, Lera L, Angel B, Cea X (2011) Efecto sobre la salud de las desigualdades socioeconómicas en el adulto mayor. Resultados basales del estudio expectativa de vida saludable y discapacidad relacionada con la obesidad (Alexandros). Revista Médica de Chile 139:1276–1285
Alonso J, Prieto L, Antó JM (1995) La versión española del SF-36 health survey (Cuestionario de salud SF-36): un instrumento para la medida de los resultados clínicos. Med Clin 104:771–776
Bartsch LJ, Butterworth P, Byles JE, Mitchell P, Shaw J, Anstey KJ (2011) Examining the SF-36 in an older population: analysis of data and presentation of Australian adult reference scores from the dynamic analyses to optimise ageing (DYNOPTA) project. Qual Life Res 20:1227–1236
Bohannon RW, DePasquale L (2010) Physical functioning scale of the short-form (SF) 36: internal consistency and validity with older adults. J Geriatr Phys Ther 33:16–18
Brett CE, Gow AJ, Corley J, Pattie A, Starr JM, Deary IJ (2012) Psychosocial factors and health as determinants of quality of life in community-dwelling older adults. Qual Life Res 21:505–516
Castillo-Carniglia A, Albala C, Dangour AD, Uauy R (2012) Factores asociados a satisfacción vital en una cohorte de adultos mayores de Santiago. Chile Gac Sanit 26:414–420
Chachamovich E, Fleck M, Laidlaw K, Power M (2008) Impact of major depression and subsyndromal symptoms on quality of life and attitudes toward aging in an international sample of older adults. Gerontologist 48:593–602
Chan SW, Chiu HF, Chien WT, Thompson DR, Lam L (2006) Quality of life in Chinese elderly people with depression. Int J Geriatr Psychiatr 21:312–318
Fuentes-García A, Lera L, Sánchez H, Albala C (2012) Oral health-related quality of life of older people from three South American cities. Gerodontology. doi:10.1111/j.1741-2358.2012.00649.x
Hoi le V, Chuc NT, Lindholm L (2010) Health-related quality of life, and its determinants, among older people in rural Vietnam. BMC Public Health 10:549. doi:10.1186/1471-2458-10-549
Hsu HC (2007) Gender differences in health-related quality of life among the elderly in Taiwan. Asian J Health Inf Sci 1:366–376
Hu J, Gruber KJ, Hsueh KH (2010) Psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the SF-36 in older adults with diabetes in Beijing. China Diabetes Res Clin Pract 88:273–281
Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE) (2008). Chile: Proyecciones y Estimaciones de Población 1990-2020. País y Regiones. Retrieved from: http://www.ine.cl/canales/chile_estadistico/demografia_y_vitales/proyecciones/INFORME/informe_proyecciones_2008.pdf
Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE) (2012). Compendio estadístico 2012. Estadísticas demográficas. Retrieved from: http://www.ine.cl/canales/menu/publicaciones/compendio_estadistico/compendio_estadistico201.php
Lam CL, Tse EY, Gandek B, Fong DY (2005) The SF-36 summary scales were valid, reliable, and equivalent in a Chinese population. J Clin Epidemiol 58:815–822
Lin L (1989) A concordance correlation coefficient to evaluate reproducibility. Biometrics 45:255–268
Lugo LH, García HI, Gómez C (2006) Confiabilidad del cuestionario de calidad de vida en salud sf-36 en Medellín, Colombia. Revista Facultad Nacional de Salud Pública 24:37–50
Mardia KV, Kent JT, Bibby JM (1979) Multivariate analysis. Academic Press, London
McDowell I (2006) General health status and quality of life. In: Measuring health: a guide to rating scales and questionnaires, 3rd edn. Oxford University Press, New York
Mohammadpour RA, Yousefi Z (2008) Factor analysis of SF-36 Persian version health-related quality of life questionnaire in Iran. World Appl Sci J 3:548–554
Molzahn A, Skevington SM, Kalfoss M, Makaroff KS (2010) The importance of facets of quality of life to older adults: an international investigation. Qual Life Res 19:293–298
Netuveli G, Blane D (2008) Quality of life in older ages. Br Med Bull 85:113–126
Olivares P (2006) Estado de Salud de Beneficiarios del Sistema de Salud de Chile: 2004–2005. Documento de Trabajo. Departamento de Estudios y Desarrollo. Superintendencia de ISAPRES. Retrieved from: http://www.supersalud.cl/documentacion/569/articles-1062_recurso_1.pdf
Orfila F, Ferrer M, Lamarca R, Tebe C, Domingo-Salvany A, Alonso J (2006) Gender differences in health-related quality of life among the elderly: the role of objective functional capacity and chronic conditions. Soc Sci Med 63:2367–2380
Programa Adulto Mayor UC (PAMUC) (2007) Primera Encuesta sobre Calidad de Vida en la Vejez. Retrieved from: http://www.adultomayor.uc.cl/html/investigacion/i_int.pdf
Servicio Nacional del Aduto Mayor (SENAMA) (2010). Estudio Nacional de la Dependencia en las Personas Mayores. Impresores Gráfica Puerto Madero, Chile. Retrieved from: http://www.senama.cl/filesapp/Estudio_dependencia.pdf
Sloane PD, Zimmerman S, Williams CS, Reed PS, Gill KS, Preisser JS (2005) Evaluating the quality of life of long-term care residents with dementia. Gerontologist 45(Special Issue I):37–49
Syddall HE, Martin HJ, Harwood RH, Cooper C, Sayer AA (2009) The SF-36: a simple, effective measure of mobility-disability for epidemiological studies. J Nutr Health Aging 13:57–62
Urzua A, Bravo M, Ogalde M, Vargas C (2011) Factores vinculados a la calidad de vida en la adultez mayor. Rev Méd Chile 139:1006–1014. doi:10.4067/S0034-98872011000800005
Vilagut G, Ferrer M, Rajmil L, Rebollo P, Permanyer-Miralda G, Quintana JM et al (2005) El Cuestionario de Salud SF-36 español: una década de experiencia y nuevos desarrollos. Gac Sanit 19:135–150
Walters SJ, Munro JF, Brazier JE (2001) Using the SF-36 with older adults: a cross-sectional community-based survey. Age Ageing 30:337–343
Ware JE Jr, Gandek B (1998) Overview of the SF-36 health survey and the international quality of life assessment (IQOLA) project. J Clin Epidemiol 51:903–912
Ware JE Jr, Sherbourne CD (1992) The MOS 36-item short-form health survey (SF-36). I. Conceptual framework and item selection. Med Care 30:473–483
Ware JE, Kosinski M, Gandek B, Aaronson NK, Apolone G, Bech P et al (1998a) The factor structure of the SF-36 health survey in 10 countries: results from the IQOLA project. J Clin Epidemiol 51:1159–1165
Ware JE, Gandek B, Kosinski M, Aaronson NK, Apolone G, Brazier J et al (1998b) The equivalence of SF-36 summary health scores estimated using standard and country-specific algorithms in 10 countries: results from the IQOLA project. J Clin Epidemiol 51:1167–1170
Webb E, Blane D, McMunn A, Netuveli G (2011) Proximal predictors of change in quality of life at older ages. J Epidemiol Community Health 65:542–547
WHO. World Health Organization (1997) Obesity. Preventing and managing the global epidemic. Report of a WHO Consultation (WHO Technical Report Series 894). Retrieved from: http://www.who.int/nutrition/publications/obesity/WHO_TRS_894/
WHO. World Health Organization (2012) World Health Statistics. Geneve. Retrieved from: http://www.who.int/
Wollmerstedt N, Kirschner S, Faller H, König A (2006) Reliability, validity and responsiveness of the German short musculoskeletal function assessment questionnaire in patients undergoing surgical or conservative inpatient treatment. Qual Life Res 15:1233–1241
Yesavage JA, Brink TL, Rose TL, Lum O, Huang V, Adey MB, Leirer VO (1982–1983) Development and validation of a geriatric depression screening scale: a preliminary report. J Psychiatr Res 17:37–49
Acknowledgments
This study was funded by Fondecyt grant 1080589.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Communicated by H.-W. Wahl.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Lera, L., Fuentes-García, A., Sánchez, H. et al. Validity and reliability of the SF-36 in Chilean older adults: the ALEXANDROS study. Eur J Ageing 10, 127–134 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10433-012-0256-2
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10433-012-0256-2