Assessing quality of life in dementia

Quality of Life (QOL) data are an established outcome measure in the assessment of therapeutic interventions. Combined QOL and pharmacoeconomic data are now routinely used to inform decisions about the optimum use of health care resources. All pharmacological, and other therapeutic interventions, have implications for quality of life, and the prospect of drug treatment for Alzheimer's disease (AD) raises important questions about the QOL of patients with dementia. Careful economic evaluation of the benefits of potential drug treatments will have to be made, and additional expenditure on drugs balanced against reduced expenditure on hospital and residential care.The assessment of QOL in dementia, however, raises a number of methodological issues and research in this patient group is just beginning.This paper presents a summary of the conceptual issues and a review of the current literature.