Abstract
Significance for Public HealthThe global population is aging. In the industrial world, adults over 65 outnumber children and comprise almost 20% of the population in some countries. Older adults experience a number of skin diseases and disorders that substantially affect their quality of life. Opportunity exists for developing and validating health-related quality of life (HRQoL) measures specifically for dermatological conditions most pertinent to older patients.Older adults experience a number of skin diseases and disorders that substantially affect quality of life. In the last two decades, a number of instruments have been developed for use among general dermatology patients to assess the effects of treatment and disease progression, perceptions of well-being, and the value that patients place on their dermatologic state of health. This chapter reviews some health-related quality of life (HRQoL) (HRQoL) measures developed and validated specifically for dermatological conditions. However, opportunity exists for developing and validating HRQoL measures specifically for dermatological conditions most pertinent to older patients.
Highlights
Measuring health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is an important part of overall patient care Figure 1
In the last two decades, a number of instruments have been developed for use among general dermatology patients to assess the effects of treatment and disease progression, perceptions of well-being, and the value that patients place on their dermatologic state of health
The purpose of this paper is to review HRQoL assessment in general and in skin disease, and to discuss issues related to HRQoL in aging skin
Summary
Measuring HRQoL is an important part of overall patient care Figure 1. Two fundamentally different approaches are commonly applied: (1) health status measurement and (2) utility/value/ preference assessment. Utility/value/preference measures, in contrast to health status measures, assess the value or desirability of a state of health against an external metric such as risk, time, or money (Tsevat J. et al, 1994; Torrance G.W., 1986; McCombs K., & Chen S.C., 2007). A less common utility measure known as willingness to pay assesses the amount of money, either in the form of cash or insurance premiums, one is willing to pay for a cure (Khanna D. et al, 2008) This technique is germane to non-life-threatening conditions and, can be applied to many dermatologic diseases. Internal consistency reliability (as measured by Cronbach’s alpha) assesses how well items within a measure “hang together.”
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