Quality of life is still a relatively new term (table It is a remarkably com- prehensive concept: even the narrower formulation of particular interest to doctors (health related quality of life) covers symp- toms and all aspects of everyday life. 1-12 Cardiologists have always believed that com- ponents of quality of life are important to their patients but they are often sceptical about attempts to quantify them. However, measurement of quality of life is increasingly being required and used in evaluative research and the planning of services. Done badly, it fully deserves scepticism: done well, measures have reliability and validity equal to any physiological or pathological index. This means that measures must be chosen with care for a particular purpose, administered systematically, and interpreted with caution: that it is to say they should be used with as much care as any cardiological measure. It is now essential that cardiologists are aware of the methods, applications, and limitations of quality of life assessment.
Mayou et al. (1993) studied this question.