Short health scale : a valid, reliable, and responsive instrument for subjective health assessment in Crohn's disease.

• BACKGROUND: Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is an essential part of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) assessment. The Short Health Scale (SHS), an HRQoL questionnaire in which the patients rate the disease impact on 4 important aspects of subjective health (symptoms, function, worry, and general well-being) was demonstrated in a previous study to be valid, reliable, and responsive in patients with ulcerative colitis. The present study evaluates the SHS in patients with Crohn's disease (CD). METHODS: In all, 367 CD patients completed the SHS and 4 other HRQoL questionnaires (IBDQ, SF-36, RFIPC, and PGWB) at their regular outpatient visits. Then 330 patients completed the questionnaires at a second visit 6 months later. In addition, reliability data were obtained from repeat measurements 4 weeks after the first visit in 40 patients stable in remission. RESULTS: Patients in remission scored better on all 4 questions than those with active disease (P < 0.001). All 4 questions were strongly correlated with the corresponding dimensions of the other HRQoL questionnaires (r(s) = 0.74-0.83). Reliability was confirmed with strong test-retest correlations (r(s) = 0.69-0.82) and intraclass correlation coefficients (0.66-0.77). Patients who changed from remission to active disease or vice versa showed a significant change in all 4 SHS scores (P < 0.005). CONCLUSIONS: SHS is a valid, reliable and responsive HRQoL instrument also in patients with CD. It is easily completed by the patient and requires no further calculation by the investigator. SHS gives a comprehensive overview of the main aspects of the patient's subjective health perception and is a useful tool in both clinical practice and clinical studies.

Subject headings

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Klinisk medicin -- Gastroenterologi (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Clinical Medicine -- Gastroenterology and Hepatology (hsv//eng)

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Klinisk medicin (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Clinical Medicine (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Adult

Crohn Disease/*physiopathology/*psychology

Female

Humans

Male

Middle Aged

Quality of Life

Questionnaires

Sickness Impact Profile

MEDICINE

MEDICIN

Gastroenterology

Gastroenterologi

Internal medicine

Invärtesmedicin

Invärtesmedicin

Internal Medicine

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)