Kwaliteit van leven in de VTV. Een haalbaarheidsstudie voor acht ziekten

The Public Health Status and Forecast (PHSF) describes the health status of the Dutch population. Previous editions of the PHSF described diseases in terms of mortality, prevalence and incidence. This pilot-study was conducted to investigate if there is also adequate information available in The Netherlands on health-related quality of life for diseases, and if this can be compared among diseases. This pilot study made use of a literature search on eight selected diseases to find information on generic quality of life and, where available, on patient characteristics, disease characteristics and health care factors. For breast cancer, visual impairments, osteoarthritis, and traffic accidents, the information was very limited. For the remaining half of the selected diseases (anxiety disorders, stroke, COPD/astma, diabetes) it was possible to describe the quality of life. Data on patient characteristics (age, education) were also available, but information on disease characteristics (severity) and health care factors was often lacking. In conclusion, the currently available information on quality of life can be used to complete the descriptions of the diseases in the PHSF. This pilot study will be applied to other diseases, with data being published in the 'National Compass on Public Health'