Table 3

Quality of life by treatment category based on current clinical management compared with population normative data

Treatment categories
Surgically cured (n=68)Surgically corrected (n=105)Surgically palliated (n=23)Medical (n=70)Inoperable (n=10)Population normative values
Medical patients had no clinical indication for cardiac surgery or intervention. Population normative data for people aged 30–34 years (from the Oxford Healthy Life Survey 1991/2, HRSU, Oxford).
*Significantly different from population normative data; significantly different from †surgically cured group, ‡surgically corrected group, §surgically palliated group, ¶medical group, **inoperable group.
Median (IQR) age (years)32.0 (26.0–36.0)31.0 (27.0–37.0)31.0 (29.0–34.0)30.0 (25.8–36.3)31.0 (27.0–40.0)
Quality of life category (mean (SD))
    Physical functioning (n=274)77.1 (27.8)* **82.2 (22.4)* **69.1 (27.4)*¶**85.8 (21.2)*§**39.1 (30.4)*†‡§¶92.6 (14.8)
    Role – physical (n=267)78.1 (37.1)*78.0 (37.5)*72.7 (40.8)86.2 (31.1)53.6 (44.3)*88.5 (27.9)
    Role – emotional (n=267)70.7 (42.4)*76.3 (36.5)80.3 (36.6)83.6 (32.7)66.7 (42.2)82.8 (32.7)
    Social functioning (n=274)73.5 (28.4)*¶82.0 (24.6)* **79.3 (24.0)85.9 (24.3)†**58.8 (29.5)*‡¶88.4 (18.6)
    Mental health (n=275)64.8 (22.4)*‡¶73.6 (17.9)†65.9 (20.8)76.7 (17.3)†**56.8 (14.2)*¶72.9 (16.7)
    Energy/vitality (n=275)53.2 (26.1)*61.5 (23.5)**56.3 (22.0)63.9 (21.8)**35.0 (22.5)*‡¶60.3 (19.3)
    Pain (n=273)79.1 (28.0)82.3 (24.6)**86.0 (21.8)**81.0 (25.9)58.9 (34.4)*‡§83.8 (20.3)
    General health perception (n=275)58.2 (27.3)* **64.7 (27.0)* **57.3 (26.4)* **67.4 (24.3)* **26.9 (20.8)*†‡§¶76.3 (18.9)