Quality of life questionnaires in otorhinolaryngology; a systematic overview

BACKGROUND: The importance of quality of life (QOL) as an endpoint and the use of validated QOL questionnaires has increased over time.

OBJECTIVE OF OVERVIEW: To evaluate health-related quality of life (HR-QOL) measurement instruments used in patients in otorhinolaryngology (ORL). We aim to establish the use of QOL questionnaires in ORL over a period of time, establish the use of QOL questionnaires within different domains and determine the use of validated QOL questionnaires.

SEARCH STRATEGY AND EVALUATION METHOD: We performed a comprehensive search in PubMed up to January 1(st) , 2014. Articles were included that measured HR-QOL questionnaires in clinical practice in children, adolescents or adults in 42 journals of ORL. Multiple unique QOL questionnaires, organized according to domain, time, and survey of validation were extracted from reported articles.

RESULTS: Out of 2442 articles, we utilized 1196 publications with a total of 2103 QOL questionnaires regarding ORL. We evaluated a variety of 363 unique QOL questionnaires in which 60% (n=220) QOL questionnaires had been validated. We found a continuing increase in the amount of articles which used QOL questionnaires since the beginning of the 20th century while the percentage of validated QOL questionnaires remained the same (76%). Most QOL questionnaires were used in the domains oncology (35%), otology (21%) and rhinology (20%). The domain otology had the largest amount of unique QOL questionnaires (n=122).

CONCLUSIONS: We identified and evaluated all unique HR-QOL questionnaires utilized inpatients in ORL. Recently, the use of validated and non-validated HR-QOL questionnaires has increased within all domains of ORL. The assessment of QOL has become an important outcome measure in clinical practice, in medical research and for health care organizations. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.