Use of the QOLIE-31 in Routine Clinical Practice

The most important outcome of medical care may be the patient’s perception of his or her functioning and well-being, or quality of life. However, patient-reported quality of life is not often routinely and/or adequately assessed. This study examined the usefulness of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) information in predicting patient-reported health status when compared with information routinely obtained in a physician–patient interaction. A survey instrument was administered to 40 patients immediately prior to a scheduled epilepsy clinic visit. The instrument included the 31-item Quality of Life in Epilepsy Inventory (QOLIE-31) and 21 additional items that assessed, among other things, information routinely obtained in a physician–patient interaction regarding adverse drug effects and seizure frequency. Regression analysis revealed that information regarding seizure frequency and adverse drug effects provided little insight into patients’ self-perceived health status. Only 11.25% of the variance in patients’ self-reported health status was explained by variations in these traditional measures. The addition of QOLIE-derived data to traditional information significantly improved the ability to predict patients’ self-reported health status. The results of this study indicate that the administration of an HRQoL instrument in routine clinical practice offers additional insight into patients’ self-perceived health status. Furthermore, the study indicated that this additional information can be collected in a reasonable amount of time.