Evaluation of Use of the Medical Outcome Study 36-Item Short Form Health Survey and Cognition in Patients with Stroke

The Medical Outcome Study 36-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) is a widely used method to evaluate health-related quality of life and has been applied for patients with stroke. However, because it is a self-assessment tool, there is a risk in using results of the survey because of lack of information on patients who cannot answer the questionnaire. For this report, 38 patients with stroke hospitalized in the rehabilitation department filled out the SF-36 and motor items of the Functional Independence Measure (FIM) and the Stroke Impairment Assessment Set. We then examined characteristics of patients who could not be evaluated by the SF-36. Of the 38 patients, 19 patients could and 19 patients could not be evaluated by the SF-36. There was no remarkable relationship among capacity or incapacity for evaluation by the SF-36, motor subscores on the FIM, and motor items on the Stroke Impairment Assessment Set. All 10 patients having a communication subscore on the FIM of 10 points or less and/or a social cognition subscore on the FIM of 13 points or less could not be evaluated by the SF-36. The remaining unevaluable patients were not cooperative. Studies in which the entry criteria include the ability to answer the SF-36 questionnaire neglect patients with poor cognition. Therefore, when administering the SF-36 for patients with stroke, we recommend using an interview setting.