PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Wilma M. Hopman
AU  - Tanveer Towheed
AU  - Tassos Anastassiades
AU  - Alan Tenenhouse
AU  - Suzette Poliquin
AU  - Claudie Berger
AU  - Lawrence Joseph
AU  - Jacques P. Brown
AU  - Timothy M. Murray
AU  - Jonathan D. Adachi
AU  - David A. Hanley
AU  - Emmanuel Papadimitropoulos
AU  - The Canadian Multicentre Osteoporosis Study Research Group
TI  - Canadian normative data for the SF-36 health survey
DP  - 2000 Aug 08
TA  - Canadian Medical Association Journal
PG  - 265--271
VI  - 163
IP  - 3
4099  - http://www.cmaj.ca/content/163/3/265.short
4100  - http://www.cmaj.ca/content/163/3/265.full
SO  - CMAJ2000 Aug 08; 163
AB  - 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 determining whether a group or an individual scores 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 Canada. Methods: The Canadian Multicentre Osteoporosis Study is a prospective cohort study involving 9423 randomly selected Canadian men and women aged 25 years or more living in the community. The sample was drawn within a 50-km radius of 9 Canadian cities, and the information collected included the SF-36 as a measure of health-related quality of life. This provided a unique opportunity to develop age- and sex-adjusted normative data for the Canadian population. Results: Canadian men scored substantially higher than women on all 8 domains and the 2 summary component scales of the SF-36. Canadians scored higher than their US counterparts on all SF-36 domains and both summary component scales and scored higher than their UK counterparts on 4 domains, although many of the differences are not large. Interpretation: The differences in the SF-36 scores between age groups, sexes and countries confirm that these Canadian norms are necessary for comparative purposes. The data will be useful for assessing the health status of the general population and of patient populations, and the effect of interventions on health-related quality of lif