Thailand normative data for the SF-36 health survey: Bangkok metropolitan
- Author:
Ronnachai Kongsakon
;
Chatchawan Silpakit
;
Umaporn Udomsubpayakul
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- Keywords:
quality of life, SF-36, normative data, Bangkok, Thailand
- From:ASEAN Journal of Psychiatry
2007;8(2):131-137
- CountryMalaysia
- Language:English
-
Abstract:
Background: The Medical Outcomes Study 36-item Short Form (SF-36) is a widely used
measure of health-related quality of life. Normative data are the key to determine whether a
group or an individual score above or below the average for their country, age or sex. Published
norms for the SF-36 exist for other countries but have not been previously published for
Thailand. Methods: The multi-site studies of Thai Quality of Health were the cross- sectional
study involving 1,148 randomly selected Thai men and women aged 15 years or more living
in Bangkok metropolitan. The information collected included the SF-36, a measure of healthrelated
quality of life. These provided a unique opportunity to develop age- and sex-adjusted
normative data for the Thai population. Results: Thai women scored substantially higher than
men on role physical, bodily pain, role emotional and physical component summary, whereas
men scored higher than women on social functioning. Conclusion: The scores of Bangkok
people are lower than their US counterparts on all SF-36 domains, although many of the
differences were not large. The differences in the SF-36 scores between age groups, sexes and
countries confirm that these Thai norms are necessary for comparative purposes. The data will
be useful for assessing the health status of the general population and patient populations, and
the effect of interventions on health-related quality of life.
