QGEN-8, a new, brief generic measure of health-related QOL has been shown to capture effects of acute respiratory symptoms

Research published in the Quality of Life Research journal shows that the improved 8-item QGEN-8 significantly captures the QOL outcomes associated with increases in the severity of acute symptoms of chronic respiratory disease with results comparable to the longer SF-36 survey.

Previous publications have shown how the QGEN-8 survey was developed, its practical advantages and psychometric performance. It consists of eight items and takes about one minute to complete. It not only reduces the burden on respondents, but its improved items expand the range of levels measured and minimize ceiling effects (the percentage of respondents who cannot improve) for each QOL domain. Additionally, QGEN-8 empirically maintains convergent validity with SF-36 profiles and validly discriminates each domain from the others while accurately estimating both physical (PCS) and mental (MCS) summary scores from the SF-36. For the whole article: https://journals.lww.com/lww-medicalcare/fulltext/9900/improved_items_for_estimating_sf_36_profile_and.310.aspx

This article presents results from the first Internet-based monitoring of outcomes comparing the shorter QGEN-8 survey with the widely used SF-36 among adults with clinical conditions. The findings show how declines in QOL are greater as acute respiratory symptoms worsen, both in adults diagnosed with and without chronic respiratory disease. From a clinical perspective, results showing that acute sore throat and cough broadly worsen QOL, support physicians’ and pharmacists’ understanding of their full effects and taking appropriate steps to proactively manage patients’ recovery. For more details, read the full article here: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11136-022-03319-4

From a methodological perspective, more practical tools for monitoring QOL outcomes of acute respiratory symptoms have implications for other conditions and treatments affecting QOL. It is good news that equivalent findings across QGEN-8 and SF-36 methods were observed for the physical and mental summaries, eight domain profiles and utility index estimates. The medical product industry sponsorship of methodological comparisons underscores how important more practical QOL survey tools are for enabling larger population and patient monitoring.   

A recent Medical Care journal blog by the developer of QGEN-8 and SF-36 is available at: Surveying Health Outcomes – The Medical Care Blog