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The clinical use of quality-of-life scales in neurological disorders

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 February 2013

Francesco Corallo
Affiliation:
IRCCS Centro Neurolesi ‘Bonino-Pulejo’, Messina, Italy
Rosaria De Luca
Affiliation:
IRCCS Centro Neurolesi ‘Bonino-Pulejo’, Messina, Italy
Roberta Leonardi
Affiliation:
Social Cooperative Etnos, Caltanissetta, Italy
Simona De Salvo
Affiliation:
IRCCS Centro Neurolesi ‘Bonino-Pulejo’, Messina, Italy
Placido Bramanti
Affiliation:
IRCCS Centro Neurolesi ‘Bonino-Pulejo’, Messina, Italy
Silvia Marino*
Affiliation:
IRCCS Centro Neurolesi ‘Bonino-Pulejo’, Messina, Italy
*
Dr. Silvia Marino, Head of Neurobioimaging Laboratory, IRCCS Centro Neurolesi ‘Bonino-Pulejo’, S.S. 113 Via Palermo, C.da Casazza, 98124-Messina, Italy. Tel: +39 090 60128968; Fax: +39 090 60128850; E-mail: silvimarino@gmail.com

Abstract

Objective

Quality of life (QoL) is a growing issue in medicine, particularly in the evaluation of rehabilitative care. The concept of QoL is included in and expands the definition of health given by the WHO (World Health Organization) and comprises complete physical, mental, and social well-being. It expresses the degree of satisfaction in various areas as a result of the opportunities that arise during one's lifetime despite the restrictions and impediments that life itself puts forth. The last decade has exponentially increased the number of studies on QoL, although they are still limited.

Methods

We performed a literature review on the QoL scales used in patients with neurological disorders.

Results

Recent studies have shown the importance of QoL assessment because standard treatments do not assess the treatment impact felt by the patient. In fact, by understanding the impact of treatment on survival and QoL, one can make a clearer interpretation of the health of the patient.

Conclusion

This review has adopted an innovative holistic methodological approach, which allowed a global evaluation of the comfort reported by the patients. The scales applied in this study allowed to choose the most suitable therapeutic strategies and programme individual therapeutic treatment.

Type
Review article
Copyright
Copyright © Scandinavian College of Neuropsychopharmacology 2013 

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