Published 12 January 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.a2597
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;338:a2597

Editorials

Patient reported outcome measures in trials

Are widely available, but need to be standardised and used appropriately

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The complete assessment of the benefits of an intervention must include evidence of the effect on the patient’s health status and quality of life. Such evidence is usually based on self administered or interview administered questionnaires, which are increasingly referred to as patient reported outcome measures. Two linked papers (doi:10.1136/bmj.a1190; doi:10.1136/bmj.a3006) raise important questions regarding the standardised application of these measures in randomised controlled trials. The first used several patient reported outcome measures as end points in an international study of combined hormone replacement therapy.1 The second is a systematic review of randomised trials that included the short form 36 item (SF-36) health survey questionnaire as an outcome measure.2

Two broad types of patient reported outcome measures exist—those that are specific to a disease or population and those that are generic and can be applied across populations, regardless of any underlying health problems.3 The two are . . . [Full text of this article]

Andrew Garratt, senior researcher

1 National Resource Centre for Rehabilitation in Rheumatology, Department of Rheumatology, Diakonhjemmet Hospital, PO Box 23, 0319 Oslo, Norway

andrew.garratt@diakonsyk.no


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This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Lauritsen, J. M (2009). What about the cost to use the measures?. BMJ 338: b387-b387 [Full text]  

Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

Time and payment issue excluded
Jens M Lauritsen
bmj.com, 13 Jan 2009 [Full text]
Selecting appropriate patient reported outcomes measures
Jose M Valderas, et al.
bmj.com, 16 Jan 2009 [Full text]
The role of patient reported outcomes in the regulatory process needs to be better defined
Promote group Patient-Reported Outcomes MOving Toward Evidence
bmj.com, 4 Feb 2009 [Full text]
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