Visual analogue scales (VAS) are often used to measure health-related quality of life (HRQoL). However, when such scales contain ambiguous anchors like ‘‘best imaginable health state,’’ they produce answers that are difficult to interpret, as such anchors are interpreted differently by respondents of different age. This phenomenon that people’s interpretation of subjective response scales changes in response to changing circumstances is known as scale recalibration. The current study attempts to investigate whether scale recalibration in a patient sample with cognitive limitations and proxies differs from the general population.