Conclusions:The tool demonstrated reliability, validity and the administration was fast and easy. Quality of life of patients with rheumatic diseases was significantly lower than the healthy control group, supporting the necessity of a comprehensive approach to rheumatic disease management, focused on the psychosocial dimensions.J Pediatr (Rio J). 2008;84(4):308-315: Quality of life, questionnaire, PedsQL TM , validation, translation, functional status.

This article describes four dimensions of health access-availability, acceptability, ability to pay and information-correlating these dimensions to indicators and discussing the complexity of the concept of access. For a study of these four dimensions, searches were conducted using the PubMed/MEDLINE, LILACS, SciELO, and World Health Organization Library & Information Networks for Knowledge (WHOLIS) databases. Large-circulation media vehicles, such as The Economist, The Washington Post, and the BBC network were also searched. The concept of health access has become more complex with time. The first analyses, carried out in the 1970s, suggested a strong emphasis on geographical (availability) and financial (ability to pay) aspects. More recently, the literature has focused on less tangible aspects, such as cultural, educational, and socioeconomic issues, incorporating the element of acceptability into the notion of health access. The literature also shows that information provides the starting point for access to health, in association with health empowerment and literacy for health care decision-making. The study concludes that improvements in access to health and the guarantee of equity will not be achieved by initiatives focusing on health care systems alone, but rather will depend on intersectoral actions and social and economic policies aimed at eliminating income and education differences.

The translation and cross-cultural adaptation of the KDQOL questionnaire to Portuguese were concluded, having been accomplished this important stage for its validation and use in our environment.

Our findings suggest that CRF may contribute as an important tool to identify men and women with higher risk of osteoporotic fractures and that interventions aiming at specific risk factors (quit smoking, regular physical activity, prevention of falls) may help to manage patients to reduce their risk of fracture.

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The study detected a high prevalence of chronic diseases among the elderly population and found that the degree of impact on HRQOL depends on the type of disease. The results highlight the importance of preventing and controlling chronic diseases in order to reduce the number of comorbidities and lessen their impact on HRQOL among the elderly.

As life expectancy continues to rise, one of the greatest challenges of public health is to improve the quality of later years of life. The aim of this present study was to analyze the quality of life profile of the elderly across different demographic and socioeconomic factors. A cross-sectional study was carried out in two stages, involving 1,958 individuals aged 60 years or more. Health related quality of life (HRQOL) was assessed using the SF-36 questionnaire. The lowest scores were found among measures for vitality, mental health and general health and the highest among factors including social functioning and role limitations due to emotional and physical factors. HRQOL was found to be worse among women, in individuals at advanced ages, those who practiced evangelical religions and those with lower levels of income and schooling. The greatest differences in SF-36 scores between the categories were observed in functional capacity and physical factors. The results suggest that healthcare programs for the elderly should take into account the multi-dimensionality of health and social inequalities so that interventions can target the most affected elements of HRQOL as well as the most vulnerable subgroups of the population.

As doenças do joelho apresentam conseqüências variadas para a função e a qualidade de vida do indivíduo. Para traduzir, validar e verificar as propriedades de medida do questionário específico para sintomas do joelho "Lysholm Knee Scoring Scale" para a língua portuguesa, selecionamos, por conveniência, 50 pacientes (29 homens e 21 mulheres, média de idade 38,7 anos) com lesão de joelho (lesão meniscal, lesão do ligamento cruzado anterior, condromalácia ou artrose). A reprodutibilidade e a concordância ordinal inter e intra-entrevistador foram excelentes (alfa = 0,9). A concordância nominal inter-entrevistadores foi boa (Kappa = 0,7) e intra-entrevistador, excelente (Kappa = 0,8). No processo de validação, correlacionamos o questionário Lysholm com a escala numérica da dor (r=-0,6; p=0,001) e com o índice de Lequesne (r= -0,8; p=0,001). As correlações entre o Lysholm e a avaliação global da saúde pelo paciente e pelo terapeuta apresentaram-se fracas e não significantes. As correlações entre o questionário Lysholm e o SF-36 foram significantes nos aspectos físicos (r = 0,4; p = 0,04), de dor (r = 0,5; p = 0,001) e de capacidade funcional (r = 0,7; p = 0,0001). Concluímos que a tradução e adaptação cultural do "Lysholm knee scoring scale" para o nosso idioma apresentou reprodutibilidade e validade em pacientes com lesão meniscal, lesão do ligamento cruzado anterior, condromalácia ou artrose do joelho.