Abstract
In chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, health status is an important outcome for clinicians, the pharmaceutical industry and policy-makers. It has been assessed using both generic and disease-specific questionnaires. The generic questionnaire most frequently used in the context of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is the Medical Outcome Study Questionnaire Short Form-36, whereas as the disease-specific Saint George′s Respiratory Questionnaire has been used extensively to assess the effectiveness of pharmacological interventions, such as b2-agonists, theophylline, inhaled steroids and anticholinergics and the Chronic Respiratory Questionnaire has been proved to be a reliable instrument for the assessment of pulmonary rehabilitation programs. An interesting upcoming research direction would be the further involvement of health status in clinical decision-making processes.