OBJECTIVES: :  This study aimed to investigate the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of coronary heart disease (CHD) patients and healthy subjects in Hong Kong. METHODS: : This study was a one-year prospective cohort with two groups of study populations, the patient group and healthy subject group. Thirty-three eligible patients were recruited from Prince of Wales of Hospital. The HRQoL data using Short-Form 36-item Health Survey (SF-36) were collected just after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) (baseline) and one year post-PCI. Thirty-five healthy subjects who were recruited from two elderly centres and parents of School of Pharmacy (SOP) students, were also interviewed by SF-36. This study consists of two parts. In the first part, the HRQoL data of healthy subjects were compared with patients at baseline and 1 year post-PCI respectively. In the second part, the improvement in HRQoL of PCI patients at baseline and 1 year post-PCI was compared. RESULTS: : In the first part of study, healthy subjects had significantly (p<0.05) higher scores in role-physical (79.3 ± 36.6 vs 53.8 ± 48.1), vitality (65.1 ± 23.8 vs 49.5 ± 33.7) and role-emotional (93.3 ± 15.8 vs 72.7 ± 39.5) than the patients at baseline. Patients’ HRQoL returned to similar level with healthy subjects after 1 year of PCI treatment. In the second part of the study, patients had significant (p<0.05) improvements in bodily pain (12.7 ± 30.3) and vitality (16.1 ± 33.1) after 1 year. CONCLUSIONS: : This study showed that the HRQoL of CHD patients was poorer than healthy population in Hong Kong, but returned to similar level as healthy population after 1 year of PCI treatment. In addition, significant HRQoL improvements had been seen in patients after 1 year of PCI, especially in bodily pain and vitality.