Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQL)

Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQL)

The CDC defines the health-related quality of life (HRQL) on the individual level as physical and mental health perceptions and how they correlate with health risk conditions, functional capacity, social support, and socioeconomic status (CDC,2018). Furthermore, HRQOL on the community level includes resources available, conditions, policies, and practices that govern the populations’ perceptions of health and functional status.  The CDC also lists multiple measures for health-related quality of life, such as the Healthy Days Core Module, Activity Limitations Module, and Healthy Days Symptoms, which are questions assessing a person’s perceptions and current physical and mental health (CDC, 2018)

HRQOL is a multidimensional concept that includes many components such as an individual’s physical, and psychological health, perception of independence, social relationships, and environmental factors that are important to that individual (Lin et al., 2013).  Furthermore, Lin et al. (2018) state that criticisms of HRQOL measures stem from a lack of conceptual clarity and measurement feasibility.   HRQOL measures can be adequately measured if these measures are both specific such as measuring specific disease (heart disease, cancer), and complement more generic measures assessing someone’s overall physical, mental, and social health.

References:

CDC. (2018).  Health-related quality of life : Methods and measures. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.   https://www.cdc.gov/hrqol/methods.htm

Lin, X., Lin, I., Fan, S. (2013).  Methodological issues in measuring health-related quality of life.  Tzu Chi medical journal 25(1), 8-12.   https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tcmj.2012.09.002