Health Qual Life Out
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Health Qual Life Out · Dec 2012
Comparative StudyMental health, quality of life and social relations in young adults born with low birth weight.
Being born with low birth weight may have an impact on different aspects of mental health, psychosocial functioning and well-being; however results from studies in young adulthood have so far yielded mixed findings. The aim of this study was to assess the long-term impact in young adulthood on self-reported mental health, health-related quality of life, self-esteem and social relations by investigating differences between two low birth weight groups and a control group. ⋯ Our findings suggest that self-reported mental health and well-being in young adulthood may be adversely affected by low birth weight, irrespective of whether this is the result of premature birth or being born SGA at term.
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Health Qual Life Out · Nov 2012
Validation of the functional assessment of cancer therapy-gastric module for the Chinese population.
Quality of life (QoL) assessment has become an important aspect of the clinical management of gastric cancer (GC), which poses a greater health threat in Chinese populations around the world. Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Gastric Module (FACT-Ga), a questionnaire developed specifically to measure QoL of patients with GC, has never been validated in Chinese subjects. The current study was designed to examine the psychometric properties of FACT-Ga as a GC specific QoL instrument for its future use in Chinese populations. ⋯ Given the excellent reliability and good construct validity, FACT-Ga scores are able to distinguish patient groups with different clinical characteristics in the expected direction. Therefore FACT-Ga can be used as a discriminative instrument for measuring QoL of Chinese patients with GC.
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Health Qual Life Out · Oct 2012
Comparative StudyComparison of the OHIP-14 and GOHAI as measures of oral health among elderly in Lebanon.
The respective abilities of the GOHAI and OHIP-14 to discriminate between aged patients with different levels of oral diseases have rarely been studied in developing countries. The aim of this study was to compare the discriminative abilities of the OHIP-14 and the GOHAI in an elderly Lebanese population, and particularly to identify persons with different masticatory function. ⋯ Lebanese elderly with high dental care needs and impaired oral health were identified more easily with the GOHAI. These results may guide the choice of dental indicators to use in a national geriatric survey.
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Health Qual Life Out · Aug 2012
ReviewReview of patient-reported outcome measures in chronic hepatitis C.
Chronic hepatitis C (CHC) and its treatment are associated with a variety of patient-reported symptoms and impacts. Some CHC symptoms and impacts may be difficult to evaluate through objective clinical testing, and more easily measured through patient self-report. This literature review identified concepts raised by CHC patients related to symptoms, impacts, and treatment effects, and evaluated integration of these concepts within patient-reported outcome (PRO) measures. The goal of this work was to provide recommendations for incorporation of PRO measurement of concepts that are relevant to the CHC experience into CHC clinical trial design. ⋯ This review identified several gaps in the literature regarding assessment of symptoms and outcomes reported as important by CHC patients. Further research is needed to ensure that CHC clinical trials evaluate concepts that are important to patients and include measures that have evidence supporting content validity, reliability, construct validity, and responsiveness.
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Health Qual Life Out · Jun 2012
Comparative StudyThe multiple sclerosis rating scale, revised (MSRS-R): development, refinement, and psychometric validation using an online community.
In developing the PatientsLikeMe online platform for patients with Multiple Sclerosis (MS), we required a patient-reported assessment of functional status that was easy to complete and identified disability in domains other than walking. Existing measures of functional status were inadequate, clinician-reported, focused on walking, and burdensome to complete. In response, we developed the Multiple Sclerosis Rating Scale (MSRS). ⋯ The MSRS-R is a concise measure of MS-related functional disability, and may have advantages for disease measurement over longer and more burdensome instruments that are restricted to a smaller number of domains or measure quality of life. Studies are underway describing the use of the instrument in contexts outside our online platform such as clinical practice or trials. The MSRS-R is released for use under creative commons license.