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Updated: Aug 15, 2026

Oral Health Assessment by Lay Personnel for Older Adults
Published on: February 2, 2020
[Measuring quality of life in gastroenterology--concepts, instruments and problems]
1Medizinische Klinik I (Gastroenterologie, Hepatologie, Stoffwechsel- und Infektionskrankheiten, Funktionsbereich Psychosomatik), Klinikum Saarbrücken. w.haeuser@klinikum-saarbruecken.de
Abstract:
Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) is becoming an increasingly more important primary or secondary end point of clinical studies. Patients and their self help organizations demand a greater regard to their subjective experience of their disease and its treatment. Cost-effectiveness analyses measuring quality-adjusted life years are becoming more and more decisive in health politics. Therefore it is important for gastroenterologists to know the concepts and methods of HRQOL-measurement. The present article discusses the definitions of (health-related) quality of life and reviews generic- and disease-specific quality of life instruments in gastroenterology including quality criteria. Rules for the adaptation of Anglo-American questionnaires into German-speaking countries are pointed out. Finally the limitations of the concepts of HRQUOL and its measurement are discussed.
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