The EQ-5D and SF-36 achieved mixed results in the quantitative testing against psychometric criteria .
The qualitative analysis suggests this is because they provide a very limited coverage of themes identified by people with mental health problems .
BACKGROUND Generic preference-based measures of health like the EQ-5D and SF-6D ( ® ) are increasingly being used in economic evaluation and outcome assessment .
However , there are concerns as to whether or not these generic measures are appropriate for use in people with mental health problems .
OBJECTIVES The EQ-5D and SF-36 ( ® ) ( including its derivatives the SF-12 ( ® ) and SF-6D ) were assessed using the psychometric criteria of validity and responsiveness using quantitative and qualitative methods .
Another aim was to estimate mapping functions between the EQ-5D and SF-6D and condition-specific measures , where appropriate .
Quality of life in patients with bipolar I depression: data from 920 patients.
OBJECTIVE To determine the impact of acute depression on quality of life ( QOL ) in patients with bipolar I disorder and to compare these results with published data on QOL in patients with unipolar depression . METHODS Quality of life was assessed using the SF-36 in bipolar patients ( n = 958 ) who had recently experienced an episode of acute bipolar depression and participated in a large r and omized , double-blind , safety and efficacy trial . Seven studies that included SF-36 data from patients with unipolar depression were identified in the published literature and descriptive comparisons of SF-36 scores were made between the unipolar depression trials and this bipolar depression trial . RESULTS There were 920 patients who completed the SF-36 .  Mean transformed scores , which could range from 0 to 100 , were very low in bipolar depressed patients for the role-physical ( 36.7 ) , vitality ( 22.4 ) , social functioning ( 29.9 ) , role-emotion ( 11.4 ) , and mental health ( 31.0 ) subscales . Mean SF-36 scores for all subscales were significantly and inversely correlated ( p < 0.0001 ) with the HAM-D indicating that patients with milder depressive symptoms had better QOL . Further , the mean SF-36 scores for the bipolar sample were consistently lower compared with published data on QOL in unipolar depression on four of the eight subscales : general health ; social functioning ; role-physical , and role-emotional . CONCLUSIONS While both unipolar and bipolar depression have serious detrimental effects on patient QOL , our results suggest that some aspects of QOL may be worse in bipolar depression
The EQ-5D and SF-36 achieved mixed results in the quantitative testing against psychometric criteria .
The qualitative analysis suggests this is because they provide a very limited coverage of themes identified by people with mental health problems .
BACKGROUND Generic preference-based measures of health like the EQ-5D and SF-6D ( ® ) are increasingly being used in economic evaluation and outcome assessment .
However , there are concerns as to whether or not these generic measures are appropriate for use in people with mental health problems .
OBJECTIVES The EQ-5D and SF-36 ( ® ) ( including its derivatives the SF-12 ( ® ) and SF-6D ) were assessed using the psychometric criteria of validity and responsiveness using quantitative and qualitative methods .
Another aim was to estimate mapping functions between the EQ-5D and SF-6D and condition-specific measures , where appropriate .