Table 2 Mean SF-36 scale scores for general practice patients by disease groups

Reference group (n = 428)

82.8

69.1

68.6

64.0

54.1

77.7

72.6

67.0

Hypertension² ** (n = 217)

71.5***

58.4**

62.9**

56.3***

56.8

79.2

77.8

72.4*

Diabetes² ** (n = 78)

66.5***

56.7*

62.4

58.0**

59.1*

80.4

80.4*

75.1**

Asthma/COPD¹ *** (n = 54)

68.1***

42.7***

59.5*

47.4***

47.7*

73.8

71.4

66.4

Heart disease¹ *** (n = 78)

59.7***

44.2***

57.2**

49.7***

46.9*

74.7

61.7

67.4

OA knee¹ *** (n = 17)

62.7**

46.7**

48.8**

53.0*

57.7

80.2

89.6*

72.6

Other joint diseases¹ * (n = 30)

63.4**

48.2*

47.4**

56.1

51.1

75.8

69.1

65.8

Depression² ** (n = 63)

68.3***

48.9**

55.5**

54.0***

39.2***

59.0***

39.6***

46.6***

Cancer¹ * (n = 38)

66.6**

49.2

58.6

51.8**

52.0

71.3

63.6

63.5

Back pain¹ *** (n = 193)

72.2***

52.7***

49.7***

58.4**

51.8

76.5

70.9

67.2

Polyarthritis¹ * (n = 13)

57.8***

46.2*

46.8**

46.6*

47.9

70.2

55.6

63.3

Other mental illness¹ (n = 29)

80.9

61.0

69.0

54.1

47.0*

66.1

53.8*

56.9*

Migraine¹ (n = 25)

78.9

60.9

55.1*

60.5

49.2

75.5

84.1

68.7