Measuring health related quality of life in coronary heart disease: the importance of feeling well

Abstract

Health related quality of life (HRQoL) is used increasingly as a measure of the outcome of CHD. As an improvement in survival of CHD continues, assessment of HRQoL has become an important and useful outcome measure complementing the traditional "hard outcomes" such as mortality for evaluating benefits of medical interventions. Increasing number of clinical trials is applying HRQoL as an outcome measure of CHD therapy. Assessment of HRQoL in CHD should comprise a disease-specific measure in addition to a generic measure. This review aims to provide an overview of generic, disease-specific, and utility measures used in the assessment of HRQoL in CHD.