Quality-of-life assessment in acute, chronic, and cancer pain: a pharmacist's guide

Abstract

Objective: To describe instrumentation, or measures, available for use in assessing the impact of pain on the quality of life (QOL) of patients, and methods to evaluate the appropriateness of these QOL measures.

Data sources: MEDLINE, PSYCHLit, and CANCERLit were searched from 1980 through 1997 to identify QOL instruments that included a pain subscale or pain-related items.

Data synthesis: Given the high prevalence of chronic diseases or conditions that include pain as a primary or secondary symptom, pharmacists should understand how pain affects the QOL of patients. Over the past two decades, emphasis has increased on developing instruments that assess health-related QOL concerns, including pain. Scores of measures--including utility measures--are available to measure general QOL in patients with conditions involving pain. Condition-specific instruments have also been developed to measure the impact of specific conditions, such as arthritis, on QOL. Guidelines are presented for evaluating QOL instrumentation, and existing measures used to evaluate the QOL of patients with acute and chronic pain are described. Pharmacists can use these guidelines to evaluate the usefulness of existing instruments for assessing the QOL of patients with pain.

Conclusion: Using QOL measures in everyday practice may assist pharmacists in gaining insight into the effects of pain on their patients' QOL. This information may be useful in developing treatment programs that minimize pain and its associated side effects while maximizing patients' well-being.