Qualidade de vida e medidas de utilidade: parâmetros clínicos para as tomadas de decisão em saúde Quality of life and utility measures: clinical parameters for decision-making in health

• Main Authors: Alessandro Gonçalves Campolina, Rozana Mesquita Ciconelli
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English; Spanish; Portuguese
• Published: Pan American Health Organization 2006
• Subjects: Custos e análise de custos; satisfação do paciente; qualidade de vida; técnicas de apoio para a decisão; costs and cost analysis; patient satisfaction; decision support techniques; Medicine; R; Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Public aspects of medicine; RA1-1270; Arctic
• Online Access: https://doaj.org/article/03552d7378a846f0ac6aca3b8ca57484

In recent decades, the international scientific community has become increasingly interested in the concept of quality of life. One of the most important implications of the focus on quality of life is a shift from "cure" to "a guarantee of a better life" as a health care goal, as well as the inclusion of individuals' preferences for certain health states in the decision-making process associated with treatments, diagnostic strategies, and health spending. This is especially important as the prevalence of chronic diseases increases as a result of the aging of the population. This piece describes the main concepts and applications related to this new health paradigm, including quality of life itself, utility measures, quality-adjusted life years (QALYs), and health decision analysis.