Quality of Life Measures in Health Care. I: Applications and Issues in Assessment

Overview

Journal BMJ

Specialty General Medicine

Date 1992 Oct 31

PMID 1467690

Citations 153

Authors

R Fitzpatrick

A Fletcher

S Gore

D Jones

D Spiegelhalter

D Cox

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Many clinicians remain unsure of the relevance of measuring quality of life to their clinical practice. In health economics quality of life measures have become the standard means of assessing the results of health care interventions and, more controversially, the means of prioritising funding; but they have many other applications. This article--the first of three on measuring quality of life--reviews the instruments available and their application in screening programmes, audit, health care research, and clinical trials. Using the appropriate instrument is essential if outcome measures are to be valid and clinically meaningful.

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