The psychometric properties of the Russian version of the MacNew Heart Disease Health-related Quality of Life Scale in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting surgery

Rationale and aims: The MacNew questionnaire is a disease-specific health-related quality of life (HRQL) measure designed for patients with heart disease. We aimed to assess the psychometric properties of the Russian MacNew heart-disease health-related quality of life (HRQL) scale in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) surgery.Methods: The sample comprised of 226 Russian-speaking CABG patients. Patients were assessed before CABG surgery and 12 months thereafter. They completed the MacNew, the Short Form-36 Health Survey (SF-36), the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and a questionnaire on demographic and lifestyle habits.Results: Of the 226 patients who completed the questionnaires at study entry, 188 (83%) also provided data after 12 months. The internal consistency of the MacNew scales was high (alpha coefficients: 0.88-0.93). There were moderate to high correlations between similar sub-scales of the MacNew and the SF-36 domains (0.69-0.80). The MacNew scales discriminated between patients varying on four variables: gender, depression, anxiety and congestive heart failure. The original 3-factor structure was generally supported. Patients’ scores on the MacNew scale improved over 12 months suggesting it was responsive to change.Conclusions: The Russian version of MacNew was found to be a reliable and valid HRQL tool which is sensitive to change. This instrument offers clinicians and researchers a useful tool for understanding patient’s perspective of the impact of heart disease and its treatment.