Using Quality-of-Life Measurements in Pharmacoepidemiologic Research

Health-related Quality of Life (HRQL) reflects the evaluation of patients' overall health and well-being and generally includes several broad domains (physical function, emotional function), and subcomponents of each domain (e.g., pain, sleep, activities of daily living, and sexual function within the physical function domain). Health-related quality of life effects may be pertinent in investigating and documenting both beneficial as well as harmful aspects of drug action. The knowledge of these drug effects may be important, not only to the regulatory agencies and physicians prescribing the drugs, but to the people who agree to take the medication and live with both its beneficial actions and detrimental side effects. This chapter reviews the attributes (e.g., validity, reliability, responsiveness, interpretability) of HRQL measures as well as the taxonomy and potential use of HRQL instruments.