Use and misuse of the concept of quality of life in evaluating surgical treatments for lower urinary tract symptoms.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate how quality of life (QoL) components measured by given instruments direct the QoL perspective in treatment studies of lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH).
METHODS: Computer searches were conducted in Medline, CINAHL and Psychinfo; MeSH terms covering QoL and surgical treatments for BPH and LUTS were combined for the search. The analysis was based on a framework linking components of QoL to patient outcome.
RESULTS: Of the 74 papers meeting the inclusion criteria, 48 were published in 1997-2001, showing the increase of interest of the topic. Most of the papers reported the change in QoL by a one-item scale, whilst only a few reported results from several of the components in the QoL concept. Some papers regarded the change in general health status or parts of health status as changes in QoL. Functional status and symptoms, and the bother of symptoms, were often regarded as indicators of a change in QoL.
CONCLUSION: These analyses show an increasing interest in measuring QoL after surgery for LUTS and BPH. In most of the studies analysed, the batteries of instruments selected were too narrow in scope to study the complexity of QoL. Most papers are based on instruments sensitive to change, but the reports do not distinguish the basic assumptions for understanding relationships important in QoL research and as a result, the reason for change is open to question.