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Health-related quality of life – the role and manners of assessment in cancer patients

Barbara Radecka

Affiliacja i adres do korespondencji
Curr Gynecol Oncol 2015, 13 (3), p. 172–179
DOI: 10.15557/CGO.2015.0019
Streszczenie

According to the statement of the World Health Organization, the quality of life is the individual’s perception of their position in life in the context of given standards and value systems and in relation to their accomplishments, expectations and concerns. In the past twenty-five years, the role of quality of life assessment in medicine has been growing. Health-related quality of life is the self-assessment of patients with respect to the influence of a disease and treatment on the functioning in basic aspects: physical, mental, social and spiritual. The quality of life measure is a very useful tool for the assessment of the value of medical procedures. Quality of life is measured using the QALY index (quality-adjusted life years), which is the average further duration of life adjusted by the limitation of activity due to a disease or disability. Each medicinal technology, the costs of which are reimbursed from public funds, is subject to pharmacoeconomic assessment, and QALY is one of its elements. Quality of life is significant for patients but it is difficult to express in methodological categories. The basic evaluation methods include patient-reported outcomes of treatment with the use of one-dimensional analogue, numerical and verbal scales or multidimensional questionnaires.

Słowa kluczowe
health-related quality of life, QALY, quality of life questionnaire