Quality of life assessment in otorhinolaryngology. History, measures and methods

The term "quality of life" was first mentioned in 1920 in economic journals and became an issue in the early 1960s in North America. Initially it became accepted in social sciences and later in medicine. The development of generic measures began in the early 1970s and continues today. Disease-specific measures were introduced in the 80th and 90th. During that time methodological studies were implemented and additional emphasis was put on analytic approaches, interpretation of scale scores and cultural including language issues. In ENT study groups began slowly with research in the 1980s and expanded during the 1990s. Today Quality of Life is an accepted part of medical research and covers a broad field of issues. Study groups in ENT work on allergy treatment, oncology and economic aspects of Quality of Life research as well as patient's perception of hearing devices. Future challenges include conceptualization and testing of theoretical models, further refinement of individualized measures for use in routine clinical practice and the inclusion of Quality of Life information in health databases. This article describes the methodological concept, the history of Quality of Life assessment in ENT and gives a detailed overview on current measures.