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Is There Regional Variation in the SF-36 Scores of Canadian Adults?

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Abstract

Background: Canadian normative data for the Medical Outcomes Study 36-item short form (SF-36) have recently been published. However, there is evidence from other countries to suggest that regional variation in health-related quality of life (HRQOL) may exist. We therefore examined the SF-36 data from nine Canadian centres for evidence of systematic differences.

Methods: Bayesian hierarchical modelling was used to compare the differences in the eight SF-36 domains and the two summary component scores within each of the age and gender strata across the nine sites.

Results: Five domains and the two summary component scores showed little clinically important variation. Other than a small number of exceptions, there was little overall evidence of HRQOL differences across most domains and across most sites.

Interpretation: Our finding of only a few small differences suggests that there is no need to develop region-specific Canadian normative data for the SF-36 health survey.

Résumé

Contexte: Les données normatives canadiennes s’appliquant à la version abrégée du questionnaire sur l’évolution médicale comportant 36 questions (SF-36) ont été publiées récemment. Toutefois, les données recueillies dans d’autres pays suggèrent qu’il peut exister des variations régionales au niveau de la qualité de vie reliée à l’état de santé (HRQOL). Nous avons donc étudié les données du SF-36 provenant de neuf centres canadiens pour démontrer les différences systématiques.

Méthodes: Un modèle hiérarchique bayésien a été utilisé pour comparer les différences entre les résultats des huit domaines du SF-36 et des deux composantes sommaires pour chaque strate d’âge et de sexe, et ce, pour les neuf centres.

Résultats: Les résultats de cinq domaines et des deux composantes sommaires démontraient des différences peu significatives cliniquement. Outre de rares exceptions, il y avait peu d’évidence de variations du HRQOL entre la plupart des domaines et des centres.

Interprétation: Les résultats obtenus, ne démontrant que de légères différences, suggèrent qu’il n’est pas nécessaire d’établir des données normatives spécifiques aux régions du Canada pour le questionnaire de santé SF-36.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. MacKenzie Health Services Research Group, Department of Community Health and Epidemiology, 3rd Floor, Abramsky Hall, Kingston, ON, K7L 3N6, Canada

    Wilma M. Hopman MA (Director)

  2. CaMos Methods Centre, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada

    Claudie Berger MSc

  3. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, McGill University, Canada

    Lawrence Joseph PhD

  4. Division of Rheumatology, Queen’s University, Canada

    Tanveer Towheed MD & Tassos Anastassiades MD

  5. CaMos National Coordinating Centre, McGill University, Canada

    Alan Tenenhouse MD & Suzette Poliquin BSc

  6. Laval University, Ste-Foy, QC, Canada

    Jacques P. Brown MD

  7. University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Timothy M. Murray MD

  8. McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada

    Jonathan D. Adachi MD

  9. University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada

    David A. Hanley MD

  10. Eli Lilly, Toronto, Canada

    Emmanuel A. Papadimitropoulos PhD

  11. Montreal General Hospital, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

    Alan Tenenhouse (principal investigator), Suzette Poliquin (national coordinator) & Suzanne Godmaire (administrative assistant)

  12. Montreal General Hospital (Methods Centre), McGill University, Canada

    Lawrence Joseph (study statistician), Lucie Blondeau (statistician) & Claudie Berger (statistician)

  13. Memorial University, St. John’s, NF, Canada

    Carol Joyce (centre director) & Minnie Parsons (centre coordinator)

  14. Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada

    Roger S. Rittmaster (centre director), Susan Kirkland (epidemiologist) & Barbara Stanfield (centre coordinator)

  15. Laval University, Quebec City, QC, Canada

    Jacques P. Brown (centre director), Nathalie Migneault-Roy (centre coordinator) & Evelyne Lejeune (centre coordinator)

  16. Queen’s University, Kingston, ON, Canada

    Tassos Anastassiades (centre director), Pamela Hartman (centre coordinator) & Barbara Matthews (centre coordinator)

  17. University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Nancy Kreiger (study epidemiologist), Timothy M. Murray (centre director) & Barbara Gardner-Bray (centre coordinator)

  18. McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada

    Jonathan D. Adachi (centre director) & Laura Pickard (centre coordinator)

  19. University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada

    Wojciech P. Olszynski (centre director), Pat Krutzen (centre coordinator) & Jola Kedra (centre coordinator)

  20. University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada

    David A. Hanley (centre director) & Jane Allan (centre coordinator)

  21. University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada

    Stuart Jackson (medical physicist) & Loralee Robertson (research assistant)

  22. University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    Jerilynn C. Prior (centre director), Brian Lentle (radiology study consultant) & Yvette Vigna (centre coordinator)

Authors
  1. Wilma M. Hopman MA
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  2. Claudie Berger MSc
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  3. Lawrence Joseph PhD
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  4. Tanveer Towheed MD
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  5. Tassos Anastassiades MD
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  6. Alan Tenenhouse MD
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  7. Suzette Poliquin BSc
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  8. Jacques P. Brown MD
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  9. Timothy M. Murray MD
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  10. Jonathan D. Adachi MD
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  11. David A. Hanley MD
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  12. Emmanuel A. Papadimitropoulos PhD
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  13. Alan Tenenhouse
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  14. Suzette Poliquin
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  15. Suzanne Godmaire
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  16. Lawrence Joseph
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  17. Lucie Blondeau
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  18. Claudie Berger
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  19. Carol Joyce
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  20. Minnie Parsons
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  21. Roger S. Rittmaster
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  22. Susan Kirkland
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  23. Barbara Stanfield
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  24. Jacques P. Brown
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  25. Nathalie Migneault-Roy
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  26. Evelyne Lejeune
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  27. Tassos Anastassiades
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  28. Pamela Hartman
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  29. Barbara Matthews
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  30. Nancy Kreiger
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  31. Timothy M. Murray
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  32. Barbara Gardner-Bray
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  33. Jonathan D. Adachi
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  34. Laura Pickard
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  35. Wojciech P. Olszynski
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  36. Pat Krutzen
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  37. Jola Kedra
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  38. David A. Hanley
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  39. Jane Allan
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  40. Stuart Jackson
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  41. Loralee Robertson
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  42. Jerilynn C. Prior
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  43. Brian Lentle
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  44. Yvette Vigna
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Consortia

CaMos Research Group

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Wilma M. Hopman MA.

Additional information

Funding: The Canadian Multicentre Osteoporosis Study was funded by the Senior’s Independence Research Program, through the National Health Research and Development Program of Health Canada (Project No. 6605-4003-OS), The Medical Research Council of Canada, MRC-PMAC Health Program, Merck Frosst Canada Inc., Eli Lilly Canada Inc., Procter and Gamble Pharmaceuticals Canada Inc., Dairy Farmers of Canada

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Hopman, W.M., Berger, C., Joseph, L. et al. Is There Regional Variation in the SF-36 Scores of Canadian Adults?. Can J Public Health 93, 233–237 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03405008

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03405008

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