SF-36v2 norms and its’ discriminative properties among healthy households of tuberculosis patients in Malaysia Muhammad Atif • Syed Azhar Syed Sulaiman • Asrul Akmal Shafie • Muhammad Asif • Nafees Ahmad Accepted: 6 December 2012 Ó Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2012 Abstract Background The aim of the study was to obtain norms of the SF-36v2 health survey and the association of summary component scores with socio-demographic variables in healthy households of tuberculosis (TB) patients. Design All household members (18 years and above; healthy; literate) of registered tuberculosis patients who came for contact tracing during March 2010 to February 2011 at the respiratory clinic of Penang General Hospital were invited to complete the SF-36v2 health survey using the official translation of the questionnaire in Malay, Mandarin, Tamil and English. Scoring of the questionnaire was done using Quality Metric’s QM Certified Scoring Software version 4. Multivariate analysis was conducted to uncover the predictors of physical and mental health. Results A total of 649 eligible respondents were approa- ched, while 525 agreed to participate in the study (response rate = 80.1 %). Out of consenting respondents, 46.5 % were male and only 5.3 % were over 75 years. Internal consistencies met the minimum criteria (a [ 0.7). Reliabil- ity coefficients of the scales were always less than their own reliability coefficients. Mean physical component summary scale scores were equivalent to United States general popu- lation norms. However, there was a difference of more than three norm-based scoring points for mean mental component summary scores indicating poor mental health. A notable proportion of the respondents was at the risk of depression. Respondents aged 75 years and above (p = 0.001; OR 32.847), widow (p = 0.013; OR 2.599) and postgraduates (p \ 0.001; OR 7.865) were predictors of poor physical health while unemployment (p = 0.033; OR 1.721) was the only predictor of poor mental health. Conclusion The SF-36v2 is a valid instrument to assess HRQoL among the households of TB patients. Study findings indicate the existence of poor mental health and risk of depression among family caregivers of TB patients. We therefore recommend that caregivers of TB patients to be offered intensive support and special attention to cope with these emotional problems. Keywords Health-related quality of life Á SF-36v2 health survey Á Measurement equivalence Á Households Á Malaysia Introduction Tuberculosis (TB) is a chronic illness that requires long- term care. Most chronically ill subjects are cared for by an informal support system comprising family members, friends or healthcare professionals. For TB, family mem- bers and healthcare professionals are the predominant treatment supporters [1]. Caring for patients with chronic illness means that these types of treatment supporters might M. Atif (&) Á S. A. S. Sulaiman Á N. Ahmad Discipline of Clinical Pharmacy, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia e-mail: pharmacist_atif@yahoo.com S. A. S. Sulaiman School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia A. A. Shafie Discipline of Social and Administrative Pharmacy, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia M. Asif Department of Pharmacology, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia 123 Qual Life Res DOI 10.1007/s11136-012-0337-x