Assessing HRQL among Chinese patients with coronary heart disease: Angina, myocardial infarction and heart failure

ObjectiveTo perform a psychometric evaluation of the Myocardial Infarction Dimensional Assessment Scale (MIDAS) in Chinese patients with coronary heart disease.Design and settingPatients with angina (n = 162), MI (n = 124) or heart failure (n = 95) were recruited from a regional university-affiliated hospital. The Chinese version of the MIDAS (C-MIDAS), the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and the Short-Form 36 Health Survey (SF-36) were administered to all patients at baseline and the C-MIDAS was also administered seven day (n = 92) and three months (n = 363) later.ResultsThe C-MIDAS conforms to the 7-factor structure as proposed in the original version. It is reliable with Cronbach's alphas from 0.73 to 0.94 and test–retest reliabilities from 0.76 to 0.92. Four of its subscales (physical activity, insecurity, emotional reaction and dependency) correlated significantly with the SF-36 and the HADS in each diagnostic group and had good discriminative properties in terms of gender, emotional disturbance and perceived health deterioration, with responsiveness supported by medium-high effect sizes (0.43–0.83) and standardize response means (0.46–0.82). The other three subscales measuring treatment-related impacts added little to the validity and responsiveness of the C-MIDAS.ConclusionTo render the C-MIDAS a core health-related quality of life measure for Chinese-speaking patients with coronary heart disease, further studies need to clarify the content adequacy and cultural relevancy of those subscales measuring treatment-related impact.