What is Health Related Quality of Life

Everyone values and appreciates being healthy. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines health as ” a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”*

Health-related quality of life (HRQL) focuses on the impact of health on a person’s ability to live a fulfilling life. HRQL represents a broad concepts of physical, psychological with social functioning and well-being that includes both positive and negative aspects. For people with chronic medical conditions such as Arthritis and other rheumatic diseases, this also includes how their disease and treatment affect disability and every day function. Patient centered outcome questionnaires are commonly used to assess and monitor HRQL. HRQL measures are increasingly being used in North America to help develop and evaluate new drug treatments and devices.

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Learn More

Health Related Quality of Life, why it is important to track, and how it can be used to enhance medical care: http://www.cdc.gov/hrqol/concept.htm
How Healthy People 2020 is monitoring HRQL and well-being in people across the United States: http://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/about/qolwbabout.aspx
2012 World Health Day and WHO efforts to help people reach old age in the best possible health: ttp://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2012/whd_20120403/en/
WHO’s new initiative to improve the health rehabilitation services around the globe: http://www.who.int/disabilities/media/news/2012/08_11/en/

Additional Resources:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention http://www.cdc.gov/hrqol/concept.htm
Healthy People 2020 http://www.cdc.gov/hrqol/concept.htm
International Society for Quality of Life Research http://www.isoqol.org/

*Preamble to the Constitution of the World Health Organization as adopted by the International Health Conference, New York, 19-22 June, 1946; signed on 22 July 1946 by the representatives of 61 States (Official Records of the World Health Organization, no. 2, p. 100) and entered into force on 7 April 1948.

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