Quality of Life Measurement in Gastroenterology: What Is Available?

Abstract

Monitoring and enhancement of a patient's health-related quality of life (HRQL) is an important element of research and medical care. In a previous article, we provided an overview of HRQL measurement. Now we will review the structure and properties of the most commonly used generic and digestive disease-specific HRQL instruments and illustrates their use in the gastroenterology and hepatology literature. Generic measures have been used to study specific diseases as well as to compare HRQL in GI and nongastrointestinal disease. Disease specific instruments have been developed for inflammatory bowel disease, irritable bowel syndrome, dyspepsia, gastroesophageal reflux disease, liver disease, and GI malignancy. Further work is needed to compare disease-specific instruments and to define the most appropriate uses of HRQL measurement in clinical trial and community practice settings.

Predictors of Family Risk for Celiac Disease: A Population-Based Study

“…Previously tested relatives were excluded. Sampling kits and questionnaires (BDQ and SF-36) 20,21 were mailed if resided far away, and returned to Mayo Clinic for processing. Selection was not based on race, although all families were Caucasian.…”

Reviews on the Epidemiology, Quality of Life, and Management of Chronic Hepatitis B (CHB)

“…Evaluative measures are the most widely used in different populations or patients groups (Preedy et al, 2010). It is used to assess the impact of an illness, effectiveness or side effect of treatment, and quality of healthcare delivery (Preedy et al, 2010;Yacavone et al, 2001). Discriminative measures can be used to differentiate between groups in terms of HRQOL (Preedy et al, 2010;Yacavone et al, 2001).…”

“…It is used to assess the impact of an illness, effectiveness or side effect of treatment, and quality of healthcare delivery (Preedy et al, 2010;Yacavone et al, 2001). Discriminative measures can be used to differentiate between groups in terms of HRQOL (Preedy et al, 2010;Yacavone et al, 2001). Predictive measures are used to identify people who are at risk or predict service needs for different populations or patient groups (Preedy et al, 2010).…”

“…Bayliss, 1999;Brown, 1999;Eisen et al, 1999; J. J. Gutteling et al, 2007;Yacavone et al, 2001;Younossi & Guyatt, 1998). Generic HRQOL measures can be applied to different patient populations (M.S.…”

“…The Medical Outcomes Study Short Form-36 (SF-36) is the most commonly used (J. J. Gutteling et al, 2007;Yacavone et al, 2001;Younossi & Guyatt, 1998). It showed in a study by Foster et al that CHB patients had significant lower HRQOL scores in mental health and general health perception aspects, but their physical related HRQOL scores were comparable to the healthy control (Foster et al, 1998).…”