Disease-targeted measures, in contrast, are designed to capture unique aspects of specific diseases, such as cardiovascular disease and vision impairment. Although it may sometimes be assumed that these disease-targeted measures may be more sensitive to clinical change over time compared to more "generic" measures, to date there have been very few rigorous studies to test this.

The results of this study should provide guidance in selecting measures of outcomes studies for two types of medical conditions: heart failure and cataracts. Building on the work started in the National Health Measurement Study , we are using five health measurement instruments—the SF-36, the EQ-5D, the QWB-SA, the HUI, and the HALex—to track 1-month and 6-month outcomes among heart failure patients and cataract extraction patients. The key purposes of this study are: (1) to compare how well each of these five health-related quality of life measurement tools track outcomes in these groups of patients; and (2) to compare the performance of these measures with disease-targeted measures that are currently used in clinical settings. The disease-targeted measures used in this study include the Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire for the heart failure patients and the Visual Function Questionnaire (VFQ-25) for the cataract patients. Click here fore the heart and cataract survey forms.

Patients will be identified and recruited in heart failure clinics and ophthalmology clinics by researchers at each of our participating academic health centers at the University of California, Los Angeles, the University of California, San Diego, and the University of Wisconsin - Madison. It is anticipated that up to 150 patients will be recruited at each of the participating clinics, for a total of 900 patients overall (450 heart failure and 450 cataract patients). Once recruited and enrolled, patients will be given a questionnaire to take home, complete, and mail back. At 1-month and 6-month intervals, patients will be mailed additional questionnaires to be completed and returned.

The study is being directed by researchers in the Department of Health Services in the School of Public Health at the University of California, Los Angeles. Data collection is being conducted by the Health Outcomes Assessment Program at the University of California, San Diego. Data management and analysis is being coordinated by researchers in the Department of Population Health Sciences at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.