An effortless and comprehensive approach to burden of illness reviews
Published: 28-11-2016
The heoro.com database makes it quick and easy to identify patient-reported outcome instruments that have been used to measure quality of life and other outcomes related to a particular disease. In this blog, we summarise the different PRO tools that we have identified in studies of patients with hepatitis C infection.
We searched the heoro.com dashboard for Hepatitis C as the disease (which includes studies on chronic hepatitis C infection) and PRO studies from the study type menu. By not restricting the publication date, we searched the entire database of studies indexed in PubMed since 1960. We found a total of 171 abstracts that reported the use of 55 different PRO instruments.
Of these 55 instruments, six were specific for liver disease or hepatitis C infection, 38 were general instruments used to evaluate quality of life, utilities or non-disease-specific symptoms such as fatigue, and 11 were specific for other conditions or diseases that were common comorbidities of people with hepatitis C infection. The different instruments and the number of abstracts that cited them are summarised in the tables below.
By far the most popular instrument was the SF-36, cited in 80 abstracts, with other tools that can be used to derive utility values, such as the EQ-5D and Health Utilities Index also being used in several abstracts. Of the disease-specific instruments, the most widely used was the Chronic Liver Disease Questionnaire, cited in 12 abstracts. Comorbidities linked to hepatitis C infection were generally anxiety and depression, and HIV co-infection.
| Instrument name | Number of abstracts |
| Chronic Liver Disease Questionnaire | 12 |
| Hepatitis Quality of Life Questionnaire | 7 |
| Liver disease quality of life questionnaire | 5 |
| Liver Disease Symptom Index | 2 |
| HCV-Patient reported outcomes | 1 |
| Zamberlan Questionnaire | 1 |
| Instrument name | Number of abstracts |
| SF-36 | 80 |
| EQ-5D | 8 |
| Visual analogue scale | 7 |
| Fatigue impact scale | 6 |
| Health Utility Index mark 3 | 6 |
| Fatigue severity scale | 5 |
| Health Utility Index mark 2 | 5 |
| Sickness Impact Profile | 4 |
| Time Trade-Off | 4 |
| SF-6D | 3 |
| Standard Gamble | 3 |
| Nottingham Health Profile | 2 |
| Profile of Mood States | 2 |
| SF-12 | 2 |
| Social Support Questionnaire | 2 |
| Symptom Checklist-90 | 2 |
| Work Productivity and Activities Index | 2 |
| Abbreviated Cook-Medley anger measure | 1 |
| Billing and Moos Inventory of coping with illnesses | 1 |
| Brief Symptom Inventory | 1 |
| Child Health Questionnaire | 1 |
| Clinical Global Impression of Severity | 1 |
| EORTC QLQ-C30 | 1 |
| Everyday-Life Questionnaire | 1 |
| FACIT-F | 1 |
| Flu-like symptom index | 1 |
| General Health Questionnaire | 1 |
| Health Assessment Questionnaire | 1 |
| Inventory of Interpersonal Problems | 1 |
| Linear Analog Self-Assessment | 1 |
| Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory | 1 |
| NHANES HRQOL-4 | 1 |
| Quality of Life Questionnaire | 1 |
| Quality of Well-being Scale | 1 |
| Rating Scale | 1 |
| Satisfaction Profile | 1 |
| Schwartz Cancer Fatigue Scale | 1 |
| WHOQOL-BREF | 1 |
| Instrument name | Number of abstracts |
| Beck Depression Inventory | 4 |
| Hospital anxiety and Depression scale | 3 |
| State-Trait Anxiety Inventory | 2 |
| Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test | 1 |
| Beck Anxiety Inventory | 1 |
| Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression scale | 1 |
| HIV-SELT | 1 |
| Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale | 1 |
| Medical Outcomes Study HIV scale | 1 |
| State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory | 1 |
| WHOQOL-HIV-BREF | 1 |