[Using Karnofsky's scale to measure the quality of life]

Karnofsky's scale is one of the indexes most frequently used to measure cancer patients' quality of life. The main problem encountered when trying to verify it is the degree of subjectivity inherent in it. Due to this, an attempt was made to create a more objective measuring instrument based on Karnofsky's scale. To this end, a retrospective study involving 300 outpatients was carried out. For these patients, their Karnofsky index was determined by two independent agents: the patient's oncologist and the nursing team which complied its measure based on a survey answered by the patient himself/herself. The differences between these two methods proved to be statistically insignificant.