Measuring health-related quality of life in women on hormone replacement therapy.
Hormone replacement therapy has been shown to effectively relieve postmenopausal symptoms. However, its impact on health-related quality of life is not well documented. There is no gold standard instrument available for measuring the effects of hormone replacement therapy on health-related quality of life of postmenopausal women. Furthermore, no systematic comparison of health-related quality of life measures has been undertaken within the field. An overview of the health-related quality of life measures and scales used in publications on hormone replacement therapy are reviewed. In addition, an analysis to compare the performance of two generic health-related quality of life measures, the Nottingham Health Profile and the 15D are conducted. Both measures performed well in postmenopausal women. However, only preference-based measures, such as 15D, can be used in cost-utility analyses.
Sintonen
Harri
H
University of Helsinki, Department of Public Health, Helsinki, Finland. harri.sintonen@helsinki.fi
Johansson
Stiina
S
Ohinmaa
Arto
A
Apajasalo
Marjo
M
Kainulainen
Petri
P
Heikkinen
Jorma
J