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Quality of life

About: Quality of life is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 42912 publications have been published within this topic receiving 1198363 citations. The topic is also known as: life quality.


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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, a comprehensive review of published chemotherapy trials of the most common single agents and combination chemotherapy regimens, including the new generation of chemotherapeutic agents, used in the treatment of the major nonmyeloid malignancies in adults to characterize and to document the incidence and severity of chemotherapy-induced anemia.
Abstract: Anemia is a common complication of myelosuppressive chemotherapy that results in a decreased functional capacity and quality of life (QOL) for cancer patients. Severe anemia is treated with red blood cell transfusions, but mild-to-moderate anemia in patients receiving chemotherapy has traditionally been managed conservatively on the basis of the perception that it was clinically unimportant. This practice has been reflected in the relative inattention to standardized and complete reporting of all degrees of chemotherapy-induced anemia. We undertook a comprehensive review of published chemotherapy trials of the most common single agents and combination chemotherapy regimens, including the new generation of chemotherapeutic agents, used in the treatment of the major nonmyeloid malignancies in adults to characterize and to document the incidence and severity of chemotherapy-induced anemia. Despite identified limitations in the grading and reporting of treatment-related anemia, the results confirm a relatively high incidence of mild-to-moderate anemia. Recent advances in assessing the relationships of anemia, fatigue, and QOL in cancer patients are providing new insights into these closely related factors. Clinical data are emerging that suggest that mild-to-moderate chemotherapy-induced anemia results in a perceptible reduction in a patient's energy level and QOL. Future research may lead to new classifications of chemotherapy-induced anemia that can guide therapeutic interventions on the basis of outcomes and hemoglobin levels. Perceptions by oncologists and patients that lesser degrees of anemia must be endured without treatment may be overcome as greater emphasis is placed on the QOL of the oncology patient and as research provides further insights into the relationships between hemoglobin levels, patient well-being, and symptoms.

831 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
19 May 2001-BMJ
TL;DR: It is argued that perceptions of health and its meaning vary between individuals and within an individual over time and a model of the relation between expectations and experience is proposed to illustrate problems in measuring quality of life.
Abstract: This is the first in a series of five articles The way we think about health and health care is changing. The two factors driving this change are the recognition of the importance of the social consequences of disease and the acknowledgement that medical interventions aim to increase the length and quality of survival. For these reasons, the quality, effectiveness, and efficiency of health care are often evaluated by their impact on a patient's “quality of life.” There is no consensus on the definition of quality of life as it is affected by health (health related quality of life). Definitions range from those with a holistic emphasis on the social, emotional, and physical wellbeing of patients after treatment1 to those that describe the impact of a person's health on his or her ability to lead a fulfilling life.2 This article assumes it to be those aspects of an individual's subjective experience that relate both directly and indirectly to health, disease, disability, and impairment. The central concern of this paper is the tendency to regard the quality of life as a constant. We contend that perceptions of health and its meaning vary between individuals and within an individual over time. People assess their health related quality of life by comparing their expectations with their experience. We propose a model of the relation between expectations and experience and use it to illustrate problems in measuring quality of life. The implications of these concepts for the use of quality of life as an indicator of the need for treatment and as an outcome of care are discussed. #### Summary points Health related quality of life is the gap between our expectations of health and our experience of it Perception of quality of life varies between individuals and is dynamic within them People with different …

828 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present an integrative definition of QOL that combines measures of human needs with subjective well-being or happiness, and the policy implications include strategies for investing in opportunities to maximize QOL enhancement at the individual, community, and national scales.

823 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Pulmonary vein ablation improves mortality, morbidity, and QoL as compared with medical therapy, paving the way for randomized trials to prospect a wider application of ablation therapy for AF.

822 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The UCLA Prostate Cancer Index demonstrated good psychometric properties and appeared to be well understood and easily completed and suggests that these men especially are interested in addressing both the general and disease-specific concerns that impact their daily quality of life.
Abstract: Objectives.The need for accurate measures of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in men treated for prostate cancer is of paramount importance because patients may survive for many years after their diagnosis. Hence, interest has increased in choosing treatments that optimize both the quality

817 citations


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Performance
Metrics
No. of papers in the topic in previous years
YearPapers
202234
20213,682
20203,334
20192,964
20182,699
20172,902