Background: Use of unmodified interferon alpha-2a in chronic hepatitis C is associated with impaired health-related quality of life during therapy. Treatment with peginterferon alpha-2a (40kD) provides an improved sustained response over unmodified interferon alpha-2a. Objectives: To compare...

Objectives: To evaluate the burden of illness in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), in terms of resource utilisation (direct and indirect) and health-related quality of life (HR-QOL), in individuals with IBS who meet Rome I and Rome II criteria. Methods: A cross-sectional study, carried out by...

A literature search was conducted to review quality-of-life (QOL) measurement in patients with benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH). The different QOL instruments are discussed in relation to their correlation with symptom evaluation in studies of treatment options for BPH. Symptom evaluation of...

Background: Although several studies have determined quality of life in patients with lung cancer, there is still little information about the use of generic questionnaires [e.g. the 36-item Short Form health survey (SF-36)] and utility questionnaires [e.g. the EuroQOL instrument (EQ-5D)] in...

Health-related quality of life (HR-QOL) research, in general, is developing. It is becoming increasingly recognised as being important and knowledge on how to assess HR-QOL is spreading. Modern HR-QOL research should assess prevalence and severity of symptoms or functions, as well as the bother...

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic skin disease with increasing prevalence and rising costs. Stigmatisation and pruritus are only some aspects of potential quality-of-life (QOL) impairments. AD is not curable and repeated treatments are often necessary. At present, treatment with...

When considering the use of quality of life as a primary end-point in phase III to IV comparative trials, the trial designer generally faces some unresolved questions. These include: How does one explain that some dimensions [quality-of-life (QOL) instruments usually have more than 1 dimension]...

Objective: To investigate heterogeneity (systematic and observable variation) in health or health-related quality-of-life reports across population groups, for a given level of `true health'. Design: The investigators undertook full sit-down face-to-face interviews with 1999 individuals...

Objective: To investigate the psychometric performance and clinical validity of the 36-Item Short Form (SF-36) health survey when completed by asymptomatic HIV-positive Italian patients and to compare their health profile with a representative sample of 2031 Italian citizens (the Italian norm)....

Background: Intermittent claudication (IC) occurs in patients with peripheral occlusive arterial disease and results in leg pain after walking a certain distance - the claudication distance. Until recently, no specific questionnaire has been available to measure quality of life in patients with...