Health-related quality of life: the forgotten outcome in healthcare changes in recent years in Portugal

Abstract

Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) issues have acquired an important role not only in clinical trials, but also in daily clinical practice, and HRQoL is considered an important patient-reported outcome, particularly in chronic diseases. HRQoL is frequently forgotten when health outcomes are analyzed, both at the micro and macro level. The improvement of some health indicators of the Portuguese National Health Service in recent years is briefly discussed. Routine HRQoL measurement is rare, and is needed in order to provide better decision-making in Portugese healthcare. Some research groups interested in this theme in Portugal are presented, and give us hope that this picture may already be changing.

Keywords::

• health-related quality of life
• National Health Service
• Portugal

Financial & competing interests disclosure

The author has no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.