title: [Measuring quality of life in gastroenterology--concepts, instruments and problems].
abstract: Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) is becoming an increasingly more important primary or secondary end point of clinical studies. Patients and their self help organizations demand a greater regard to their subjective experience of their disease and its treatment. Cost-effectiveness analyses measuring quality-adjusted life years are becoming more and more decisive in health politics. Therefore it is important for gastroenterologists to know the concepts and methods of HRQOL-measurement. The present article discusses the definitions of (health-related) quality of life and reviews generic- and disease-specific quality of life instruments in gastroenterology including quality criteria. Rules for the adaptation of Anglo-American questionnaires into German-speaking countries are pointed out. Finally the limitations of the concepts of HRQUOL and its measurement are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Medizinische Klinik I (Gastroenterologie, Hepatologie, Stoffwechsel- und Infektionskrankheiten, Funktionsbereich Psychosomatik), Klinikum Saarbrücken. w.haeuser@klinikum-saarbruecken.de
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Häuser
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Grandt
mesh_terms: D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D005767:Gastrointestinal Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000191:economics / Q000523:psychology*; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D009313:National Health Programs / Q000191:economics; D011788:Quality of Life; D019057:Quality-Adjusted Life Years; D018434:Sickness Impact Profile