Quality of Life Assessments in Patients Treated with Anticancer Drugs / 薬剤疫学

Health-related quality of life (HR-QOL) has become one of the important endpoints in cancer clinical trials. However, a relatively small proportion of oncologists truly understand the concepts and uses of QOL assessments. In this article, I discuss in detail the psychometric properties that should be verified with QOL instruments, the range of QOL concepts that should be assessed in oncology, how to choose the appropriate QOL instruments, cross-cultural issues and statistical problems. Several examples of QOL assessments in cancer clinical trials are also introduced.