MEASURING QUALITY-OF-LIFE - A REVIEW

Measuring health-related Quality of Life (HRQOL) is becoming increasin gly sophisticated as the number of available instruments and potential applications increases. Global, generic and disease-specific HRQOL in struments may be used alone or in combination and each type has advant ages and disadvantages. As with any set of observations, the results o f HRQOL assessment must be carefully interpreted with the knowledge an d consideration of the setting as well as the potential effects of ext raneous factors. Application of HRQOL is not meant to stand on its own or to replace other parameters of disease outcome but to complement w hat is available in the hope of generally improving medical care.