This article reports a meta-analysis of 84 studies of quality of life (QOL) in cardiac patient populations published in the 5-year period 1987 to 1991. Selected methodologies and substantive characteristics of the studies are described. An overall effect size of 0.31 indicated a small but significant positive effect of pharmacologic, mechanical, surgical, nursing, or other treatment on QOL. No negative effect of treatment was found for any cardiovascular diagnostic category. Homogeneity analysis revealed eight potential moderators of the overall effect size: quality of study, gender of sample, time dimension, sampling method, intervention, marital status of subjects, quality-of-life dimension measured, and sample size.

Full text (sometimes free) may be available at these link(s):      help

• PubMed
• PDF locator
• publisher

A brief summary and a critical assessment of this review may be available at DARE