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Background: Healthcare providers are called on to assess and improve the health-related quality of life (HRQL) of patients with myocardial infarction (MI). However, there is lack of empirical data on HRQL of such individuals in mainland China. The purpose of this study is to assess HRQL and identify associated factors in hospitalized Chinese MI patients., Methods: A single group, cross-sectional design was adopted with a sample of 192 hospitalized MI patients at two teaching hospitals in Xi'an, People's Republic of China. HRQL was assessed using the Chinese Mandarin versions of the Short Form 36 health survey (SF-36), the Myocardial Infarction Dimensional Assessment Scale (MIDAS), and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS)., Results: Chinese MI patients reported poor HRQL as measured by both the generic (SF-36) and disease-specific (MIDAS) instruments. Advancing age and the presence of heart failure, anxiety, and depression were significant predictors of overall HRQL. Smoking and hypertension were significant predictors of the physical aspects of HRQL., Conclusions: Assessing HRQL of hospitalized Chinese MI patients and identifying associated factors may help health professionals in the design and delivery of appropriately tailored and culturally relevant interventions to this group of patients.

Background: Myocardial infarction is a major cause of death and morbidity in many countries, including China. The aim of this study was to analyse a Mandarin Chinese translation of the Cardiac Depression Scale for a hierarchy of items according to the criteria of Mokken scaling., Findings: Data from 438 Chinese participants who completed the Chinese translation of the Cardiac Depression Scale were analysed using the Mokken scaling procedure and the 'R' statistical programme using the diagnostics available in these programmes. Correlations between Mandarin Chinese items and Chinese translations of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and the Beck Depression Inventory were also analysed. Fifteen items from the Mandarin Chinese Cardiac Depression Scale were retained in a weak but reliable Mokken scale; invariant item ordering was evident but of low accuracy and the Mokken scaled items of the Chinese Cardiac Depression Scale correlated with the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and the Beck Depression Inventory., Conclusions: Items from the Mandarin Chinese Cardiac Depression Scale form a Mokken scale and this offers further insight into how the items of the Cardiac Depression Scale relate to the measurement of depression in people with a myocardial infarction.

Background: Hierarchical scales are very useful in clinical practice due to their ability to discriminate precisely between individuals, and the original English version of the Myocardial Infarction Dimensional Assessment Scale has been shown to contain a hierarchy of items. The purpose of this study was to analyse a Mandarin Chinese translation of the Myocardial Infarction Dimensional Assessment Scale for a hierarchy of items according to the criteria of Mokken scaling. Data from 180 Chinese participants who completed the Chinese translation of the Myocardial Infarction Dimensional Assessment Scale were analysed using the Mokken Scaling Procedure and the 'R' statistical programme using the diagnostics available in these programmes. Correlation between Mandarin Chinese items and a Chinese translation of the Short Form (36) Health Survey was also analysed., Findings: Fifteen items from the Mandarin Chinese Myocardial Infarction Dimensional Assessment Scale were retained in a strong and reliable Mokken scale; invariant item ordering was not evident and the Mokken scaled items of the Chinese Myocardial Infarction Dimensional Assessment Scale correlated with the Short Form (36) Health Survey., Conclusions: Items from the Mandarin Chinese Myocardial Infarction Dimensional Assessment Scale form a Mokken scale and this offers further insight into how the items of the Myocardial Infarction Dimensional Assessment Scale relate to the measurement of health-related quality of life people with a myocardial infarction.

Objective: To evaluate the validity and reliability of the Chinese version of the Short-Form Cardiac Depression Scale (CDS) as a screening tool., Methods: Measurement performance was tested on 239 Chinese cardiac patients who were asked to complete the Chinese versions of the Short-Form CDS, the CDS, the Beck Depression Inventory, and an overall measure (single item) of mood status., Results: The Chinese Short-Form CDS demonstrated acceptable internal consistency (Cronbach's α 0. 76). The high correlation coefficients (r = 0.63-0.74, P < 0.01) between the five items and the total scale provide further evidence of internal consistency. There was acceptable concurrent validity with significantly high correlations between the Chinese versions of the Short- Form CDS and the CDS (r = 0.80, P< 0.0001) and the Beck Depression Inventory (r = 0.64, P < 0.0001). Principal components analysis revealed a single dimension extracted from the data set, which resembles that reported by the authors of the original scale., Conclusion: The Chinese Short-Form CDS appears to be a valid and reliable user-friendly measure for monitoring depressed mood in Chinese-speaking patients with cardiac disease., (Copyright © 2011 The Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine. All rights reserved.)