Assessing quality of life in primary biliary cirrhosis

Quality of Life in Uncomplicated Symptomatic Diverticular Disease: Is It Another Good Reason for Treatment?

“…We chose the SF-36 questionnaire over other generic health-related QoL measures because it has been demonstrated to have excellent reliability and validity when employed in several medical conditions [26][27][28][29] . It is also used in other gastrointestinal disorders [30][31][32][33][34][35][36] and, finally, because an Italian version has been fully validated [37] . The SF-36 provides an estimate of perceived health status and well-being, and it is based on 36 multiple-choice questions, measuring eight different domains: four in the area of physical health: physical functioning (PF), role limitation-physical (RP), bodily pain (BP) and general health (GH), and four in the area of mental health: role limitation-emotional (RE), vitality (VT), mental health (MH) and social functioning (SF).…”

Methodological issues and the measurement of fatigue in primary biliary cirrhosis

“…14,15 Studies have demonstrated treatment differences in fatigue and HRQL outcomes in chronic hepatitis C, demonstrated improvements associated with sustained viral response, and predicted discontinuation from treatment. 14,[16][17][18] However, few studies in PBC have included measures of fatigue or HRQL.…”

“…14,[16][17][18] However, few studies in PBC have included measures of fatigue or HRQL. 15 Measurement of healthrelated outcomes from the patient's perspective is important for understanding the impact of disease and its treatment on patient functioning and well-being. 19 Patient-reported outcome measures are increasingly incorporated into clinical studies and provide insight into the comprehensive effects of new treatments.…”

“…30 In general, the most carefully designed instruments, which were de-veloped based on sound instrument design and psychometrics, have evidence supporting reliability (i.e., internal consistency reliability, test-retest reliability), construct validity and, for several instruments, responsiveness to clinical changes. 14,15 For example, the FSS and SF-36 vitality scales are responsive to changes in sustained viral response 17 and have good psychometric qualities in patients with chronic hepatitis C. 16 The fatigue symptom and other patient reported outcome measures applied in studies of chronic liver disease have sufficient evidence supporting psychometric characteristics and are likely to be sensitive to changes in fatigue symptoms associated with an effective intervention.…”

“…In addition, practical issues, such as respondent burden and patient acceptance, must be examined. 15 Finally, it is important that patients and clinicians be blinded to treatment. Maintaining the patient blind is important for all patient-reported outcome studies, but is most critical for relatively brief studies and interventions (i.e., 2 to 6 weeks), as in the Theal et al study.…”