Psychometric properties of an established heart disease specific health-related quality of life questionnaire for pacemaker patients.

Little is known about the HRQL of pacemaker patients due to the limited availability of disease-specific instruments. The aim of the Pacemaker Patients Quality of Life (PAPQoL) study was to determine the psychometric properties for the MacNew Heart Disease Health-related Quality of Life Questionnaire (MacNew) in patients before and after pacemaker implantation. Patients with a given indication for pacemaker therapy (N = 68) completed two self-administered HRQL instruments, the SF-36, a well-known and psychometrically sound health survey, and the MacNew, a reliable and valid heart-disease-specific HRQL instrument, before and one, three and six months after pacemaker implantation. We assessed disease severity with the New York Heart Association (NYHA) classification. Test-retest reliability, intra-class correlation, Cronbach's alpha, validity coefficients, sensitivity analyses (effect sizes) and confirmatory factor analysis were carried out. The MacNew demonstrated adequate reliability (Cronbach's alpha and ICCs > 0.80 on all scales), validity (correlations between similar SF-36 and MacNew subscales > 0.80), and responsiveness (all effect sizes > or = 0.67) in pacemaker patients. The MacNew demonstrates adequate psychometric properties for evaluating HRQL in patients before and after pacemaker implantation.