title: [Patient reported outcomes: general principles of development and interpretability].
abstract: Direct measurement of how people are feeling and the extent to which they are functioning in daily activities (generally as patient reported outcomes) is critical to judging the benefit of health interventions in chronic conditions. Selection of an appropriate instrument will reflect a comprehensive understanding of the condition of interest and a thorough knowledge of the expected benefits and harms of the proposed intervention. We provide a brief discussion about different ways that health and health measurement have been defined, including the International Classification of Function, Disability and Health (ICF), Health Related Quality of Life (HRQOL) and cost-to-benefit analyses. We outline important properties (reliability, validity, and responsiveness) that a measurement instrument must demonstrate depending on the purpose of measurement, and provide insight as to how to interpret the results of studies that report patient reported outcomes.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health Sciences, Elborn College, Room 1438, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada. dianne.bryant@uwo.ca
authors.forename: Dianne
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bryant
authors.forename: Holger
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Schünemann
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Brozek
authors.forename: Roman
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jaeschke
authors.forename: Gordon
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Guyatt
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living / Q000145:classification*; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D038801:International Classification of Diseases; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care / Q000379:methods*; D010358:Patient Participation / Q000379:methods*; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000379:methods*; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D018434:Sickness Impact Profile