| Salek, Mir-saeed 2011. Potential long term benefits from early assessment of disease impact on QoL in routine practice [Abstract]. Acta Dermato-Venereologica 91 (2) , p. 220. |
Abstract
Today, quality of life (QoL) is as important a concern for clinicians as it is for psychologists, social workers and healthcare policy makers. However, while recognising the strong interest of healthcare professionals in quality of life, it is important to recognise that QoL is a perception of the patient, not that of the clinician. Thus, it is the quantification of those perceptions that underpin meaningful evaluations of the effect of medical interventions. The World Health Organisation defines health not only as the absence of disease, but also as the presence of physical, mental and social well-being. It is therefore hypothesised that early systematic assessment of disease impact on QoL in routine practice could improve our understanding of the long term physical and psychosocial morbidity of patients with skin disease. Thus, this would allow us, through timely and appropriate interpretation of QoL information, to initiate interventions that would either prevent or substantially reduce the intensity of such physical and psychosocial morbidities leading to long term benefits to patients and their families. There is not much known about factors predicting a poor QoL in patients with skin diseases. Certain factors such as age, gender and presence of co-morbidities are considered as fixed variables. Similarly, no action can be taken by dermatologists or psycho-dermatologists to improve patients’ educational or economical circumstances. However, there are other equally important variables such as renal function (in the case of treatment with ciclosporin) and physical/psychosocial morbidity that are amenable to interventions. This, therefore, supports the notion of early assessment of disease impact on QoL and its importance in identifying the predictors of poor as well as good quality of life in patients with skin diseases. Adding to the already existing QoL armaments is the “DLQI Banding Score System (DLQI – BSS)” which enables the dermatology clinicians to meaningfully interpret the QoL information in routine clinical practice. This system is also a valuable tool for early assessment of factors predicting poor QoL in patients with skin disease. It also has proven high applicability and acceptability in routine practice scenarios. For example, in primary care early assessment by general practitioners of the impact of disease on QoL may initiate earlier referral and that in itself will lead to subsequent long term benefits to patients. Clearly, early assessment of the impact of diseases on patients’ QoL has a lot to offer in terms of providing long term benefits underpinned by greater understanding of factors predicting poor QoL. It is therefore proposed that routine assessment of patients’ QoL becomes a ‘standard of care’ in the same manner as vital signs and other laboratory measures.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Status: | Published |
| Schools: | Pharmacy |
| Additional Information: | Abstract from: 14th Congress of the European Society for Dermatology and Psychiatry. Zaragoza, Spain. March 17-19, 2007. |
| ISSN: | 0001-5555 |
| Related URLs: | |
| Last Modified: | 07 Feb 2022 11:00 |
| URI: | https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/32830 |
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