A framework to classify burden of illness measures

Although criteria sets and health status instruments address the burden of illness, they serve different functions. We propose a framework to classify burden of illness measures. The taxonomy is primarily based upon the scope of conditions and the scope of patients or people the instrument aims at, but also takes the scope of health status dimensions and time into consideration. It is useful to understand the purpose of specific instruments or criteria sets and the differences between several categories in our application of these tools.