title: Reporting of "quality of life": a systematic review and quantitative analysis of research publications in palliative care journals.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Palliative care clinical practice depends upon an evidence-based decision-making process which in turn is based upon current research evidence. One of the most important goals in clinical palliative care is to improve patients' quality of life (QoL).
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This study aimed to perform a quantitative analysis of research publications in palliative care journals for reporting characteristics of articles on QoL.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a systematic review of palliative care journals.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twelve palliative care journals were searched for articles with "QoL" in the title of the articles published from 2006 to 2010. The reporting rates of all journals were compared. The selected articles were categorized into assessment and treatment, and subsequently grouped into original and review articles. The original articles were subgrouped into qualitative and quantitative studies, and the review articles were grouped into narrative and systematic reviews. Each subgroup of original article category was further classified according to study designs.
  
  
  METHODS
  Descriptive analysis using frequencies and percentiles was done using SPSS for Windows, version 11.5.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The overall reporting rate among all journals was 1.95% (71/3634), and Indian Journal of Palliative Care (IJPC) had the highest reporting rate of 5.08% (3/59), followed by Palliative Medicine (PM) with 3.71% (20/538), and Palliative and Supportive Care (PSC) with 3.64% (9/247) reporting.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The overall reporting rate for QoL articles in palliative care journals was 1.95% and there were very few randomized clinical trials and systematic reviews found. The study findings indicate further high-quality research to establish an adequate evidence base for QoL.
authors: Department of Physiotherapy, Kasturba Medical College, Manipal University, Mangalore, Karnataka, India.
authors: Senthil P
authors: SP
authors: Kumar