QUALITY-OF-LIFE ASSESSMENT - A COMPARISON OF 4 QUESTIONNAIRES - FOR MEASURING IMPROVEMENTS AFTER TOTAL HIP-REPLACEMENT

Three experimental questionnaires were compared with the Influence of Rheumatic Diseases on Health and Lifestyle (IRGL) questionnaire, a Dut ch version of the Arthritis Impact Measurement Scales. Sixty-two patie nts with osteoarthritis (OA) and 35 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), all of whom underwent hip arthroplasty, completed the study. Re sults showed that visual analogue scales for pain, stiffness, fatigue, and anxiety were strongly correlated with a number of the IRGL scales . Patient preference scales were sensitive to change and provided addi tional information on aspects of the patients' quality of life (QOL) t hat were felt to be important by the patients themselves, The question naire on performance in various roles in life was insensitive to chang e. In existing questionnaires, there is an attempt to represent the co ncept of QOL in terms of its most important aspects. Such realizations of the concept of QOL are not entirely suitable for application in cl inical trials. The IRGL is overly complex, and its sometimes comprehen sive scales do not deal with the possible effects of treatment. Neithe r of these properties is conducive to sensitivity to change. Visual an alogue scales reduce the complexity, A simpler representation of QOL t hat can evaluate aspects relevant to treatment is recommended.