Assessing quality of life in dementia

Quality of Life (QOL) data are an established outcome measure in the assess ment of therapeutic interventions. Combined QOL and pharmacoeconomic data a re now routinely used to inform decisions about the optimum use of health c are resources. All pharmacological, and other therapeutic interventions, ha ve implications for quality of life, and the prospect of drug treatment for Alzheimer's disease (AD) raises important questions about the QOL of patie nts with dementia. Careful economic evaluation of the benefits of potential drug treatments will have to be made, and additional expenditure on drugs balanced against reduced expenditure on hospital and residential care. The assessment of QOL in dementia, however, raises a number of methodological i ssues and research in this patient group is just beginning. This paper pres ents a summary of the conceptual issues and a review of the current literat ure.