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Self-reported cost of illness and health-related quality of life
T G Ganiats1, W J Sieber, M Weisman
1Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, University of California, San Diego, USA.
Purpose:
To evaluate how well a rapid, self-report of the costs of illness correlates with health-related quality of life.
Methods:
A total of 211 patients, participating in a clinical trial of an arthritis medication, completed a Quality of Well-being scale interview and an 18-item self-assessment of healthcare utilization. Subjects completed both these instruments at each of three time points during the trial.
Results:
Correlations between the measures and across time suggest that patient-reported costs are associated with quality of life and function.
Conclusions:
A self-reported cost of illness measure may provide valuable information. With the increase move to assess cost as well as health outcomes, such rapid self-report techniques may prove useful to health services researchers, healthcare system managers, and clinicians.