• B F Gornall, P S Myles, C L Smith, J A Burke, K Leslie, M J Pereira, J E Bost, K B Kluivers, U G Nilsson, Y Tanaka, and A Forbes.
• Academic Board of Anaesthesia and Perioperative Medicine, Monash University, Victoria, Australia.
• Br J Anaesth. 2013 Aug 1; 111 (2): 161-9.

BackgroundSeveral rating scales have been developed to measure quality of recovery after surgery and anaesthesia, but the most extensively used is the QoR-40, a 40-item questionnaire that provides a global score and subscores across five dimensions: patient support, comfort, emotions, physical independence, and pain. It has been evaluated in a variety of settings, but its overall psychometric properties (validity, reliability, ease of use, and interpretation) and clinical utility are uncertain.MethodsWe undertook a quantitative systematic review of studies evaluating psychometric properties of the QoR-40. Data were combined in meta-analyses using random effects models. This resulted in a total sample of 3459 patients from 17 studies originating in nine countries.ResultsWe confirmed content, construct, and convergent [pooled r=0.58, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.51-0.65] validity. Reliability was confirmed by excellent intraclass correlation (pooled α=0.91, 95% CI: 0.88-0.93), test-retest reliability (pooled r=0.90, 95% CI: 0.86-0.92), and inter-rater reliability (intraclass correlation=0.86). The clinical utility of the QoR-40 instrument was supported by high patient recruitment into evaluation studies (97%), and an excellent completion and return rate (97%). The mean time to complete the QoR-40 was 5.1 (95% CI: 4.4-5.7) min.ConclusionsThe QoR-40 is a widely used and extensively validated measure of quality of recovery. The QoR-40 is a suitable measure of postoperative quality of recovery in a range of clinical and research situations.

This article appears in the collection: Quality of recovery after anaesthesia.

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