MacNew heart disease questionnaire after myocardial infarction:: the German version

Background: Health-related quality of life (HRQL) represents an important outcome of medical treatment. Objective: The purpose of this study was to validate the German version of the MacNew Heart Disease Health-related Quality of Life Questionnaire in patients with documented myocardial infarction. Methods: The self-administered MacNew and SF-36 were completed by 199 patients (161 male). Test-retest reliability, Cronbach's alpha, and validity coefficients were determined and confirmatory factor analysis conducted. Results: MacNew item response rates were > 92%. Convergent validity with the SF-36 scales ranged from r= 0.36 to 0.75 (p <.001). Discriminate validity was high for all scales (ANOVA p <.01). Factor analysis confirmed the three-factor structure, explaining 54.25% of variance. Test-retest reliability ranged between r(tt)= 0.72 and 0.87. Internal consistency [Cronbach's alpha] ranged between 0.90 and 0.97. The high item response rate demonstrates the acceptance of the German version of the MacNew by patients with MI. Conclusions: The results show that the MacNew is a valid, reliable, and sensitive instrument to measure HRQL and has comparable psychometric properties with the original English version. (The English version of this article can be obtained from the first author.)