title: Measuring health-related quality of life in women on hormone replacement therapy.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: University of Helsinki, Department of Public Health, Helsinki, Finland. harri.sintonen@helsinki.fi
authors.forename: Harri
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sintonen
authors.forename: Stiina
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Johansson
authors.forename: Arto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ohinmaa
authors.forename: Marjo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Apajasalo
authors.forename: Petri
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kainulainen
authors.forename: Jorma
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Heikkinen