Key International Instruments for Assessing the Quality of Life in Patients with Cystic Fibrosis: Comparative Properties and Characteristics

Background. Improving the well-being of patients with cystic fibrosis through comprehensive systematic monitoring of quality of life is one of the urgent tasks of modern healthcare. Assessment methods based on questionnaires have been developed.

Purpose. To systematize information on the properties of key international quality of life questionnaires and to provide a partial review of use cases.

Materials and Methods. Relevant, reliable information for content analysis was extracted from the PubMed and eLibrary bibliographic databases. Materials studying the characteristics and application features of relevant questionnaires were included in the review.

Results and conclusion. The article reviews the most used quality of life questionnaires and summarizes key parameters of their comparison, including applicability. Specific questionnaires were used in international studies more often than others. In Russian scientific publications, quality of life in cystic fibrosis was primarily assessed using generic questionnaires. The Cystic Fibrosis Questionnaire-Revised (CFQ-R) and the Cystic Fibrosis Quality of Life (CFQoL) questionnaires have proven to be the most common, validated, specific instruments with significant potential for their adaptation to features of clinical registries abroad. According to currently available information, CFQ-R versions and the technique of scientifically based combination of heterogeneous patient outcome measurement scales (general and specific approaches) offer advantages in stepwise searching for ways to widely implement comprehensive assessment methods into routine clinical practice of Russian healthcare organizations.

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