• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.64-70
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• 2010

Objective: This study aimed to construct an overview of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) scales for application in studies of traditional Korean medicine (TKM). Methods: We analyzed all HRQOL scales from the PROQOLID web site (www.proqolid.org) regarding to classification, application purposes, and translation to Korean version. We also searched clinical studies focused on "Quality of Life" using TKM. Results: A total of 660 HRQOL instruments were analyzed; 99 were for general condition while 559 were disease-specific. Twenty clinical studies for TKM were conduced using HRQOL scales. Conclusion: The adaptation of the international HRQOL instrument is strongly recommended in TKM-associated clinical study, and development of a TKM-specific HRQOL scale is needed for globalization of TKM.

• Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.129-141
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• 2013

Objectives : Anorexia is the primary symptom impinging cancer patients' Quality of Life. It is usually accompanied by gastrointestinal symptoms(GI symptoms). Thus, to measure anorexia symptom precisely, assessing anorexia and GI symptoms together is recommended. This study was designed to analyze cancer-related anorexia assessment tools, extract GI symptoms included in these tools and investigate usefulness of instruments in clinical trials. Methods : Instruments were selected by searching PubMed, PROQOLID database. We analyzed instruments by number of items, assessment method, type of question, GI symptoms. Results : 9 instruments were selected to assess cancer-related anorexia symptom. Most tools adopt Likert scale as response scale and 'during past week' as recall period. Assessment method of all 9 instruments is the self-administration. Questions measuring anorexia are able to be sorted into 3 forms (frequency, severeness, distress of anorexia symptom). Among the GI symptoms, nausea is included in all 9 instruments. In clinical trials of cancer-related anorexia, Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale(ESAS) and Functional Assessment of Anorexia/Cachexia Therapy Questionnaire(FAACT) were selected as endpoint measure. Conclusions : The result showed that FAACT is the only specialized tool to assess cancer-related anorexia. To measure cancer-related anorexia precisely, the need to develop new instrument exists.