Of 415 patients, 200 undergoing aortic valve replacement (AVR) and 215 undergoing AVR in combination with myocardial revascularization [coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG)], had complete preoperative health-related quality of life (HRQOL) data. From this group, 224 patients had a follow-up of one year. To assess HRQOL, the EuroQol instrument was used. The EQ-5D index score was calculated, ba...

BACKGROUND Numerous studies have identified that physical activity (PA) has positive influences on quality of life. However, there has been little domestic research about the relation of PA to health-related quality of life (HRQoL) among the general population. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of PA on HRQoL in Korean adults aged 40 years or over. METHODS This cross-sectio...

OBJECTIVE To investigate whether self-rated health profiles compiled using the EuroQol group's visual analog scale (EQ VAS) are independent predictors of vascular events and major complications in people with type 2 diabetes after controlling for standard clinical risk factors. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS The study is based on 7,348 individuals with a mean follow-up of 2.4 years after complet...

EQ-5D is used in cost-effectiveness studies underlying many important health policy decisions. It comprises a survey instrument describing health states across five domains, and a system of utility values for each state. The original 3-level version of EQ-5D is being replaced with a more sensitive 5-level version but the consequences of this change are uncertain. We develop a multi-equation ord...

We investigated individual differences in empathy and emotion recognition. Emotion recognition was operationalized as accuracy on the six emotions composing Ekman’s Pictures of Facial Affect. Facets of empathy were measured with the Empathy Quotient (EQ) and the empathic concern factor of the Interpersonal Reactivity Scale. Two aspects of emotion recognition were investigated: exposure length (...

BACKGROUND Anthropogenic climate change presents a major global health threat. However, the very provision of healthcare itself is associated with a significant environmental impact. Carbon footprinting techniques are increasingly used outside of the healthcare sector to assess greenhouse gas emissions and inform strategies to reduce them. AIM This study represents the first assessment of the...

BACKGROUND The EQ-5D has been extensively used to assess patient utility in trials of new treatments within the cardiovascular field. The aims of this study were to review evidence of the validity and reliability of the EQ-5D, and to summarise utility scores based on the use of the EQ-5D in clinical trials and in studies of patients with cardiovascular disease. METHODS A structured literature...

The phase transition between the cubic diamond (cd) and beta-tin (β-Sn) phases of Si under pressure and the region of interaction of the two phases are studied by first-principles total energy calculations. For a non-vibrating crystal we determine the pressure of the thermodynamic phase transition p(t) = 96 kbar, the Gibbs free energy barrier at p(t) of ΔG = 19.6 mRyd/atom that stabilizes the p...

BACKGROUND In order to estimate utilities for cancer studies where the EQ-5D was not used, the EORTC QLQ-C30 can be used to estimate EQ-5D using existing mapping algorithms. Several mapping algorithms exist for this transformation, however, algorithms tend to lose accuracy in patients in poor health states. The aim of this study was to test all existing mapping algorithms of QLQ-C30 onto EQ-5D,...