Methods of assessing the impact of climacteric complaints on quality of life.

Quality of life is an important outcome that reflects the way patients feel and function. Assessing the impact of a condition on quality of life is particularly relevant in symptomatic conditions such as the menopause. A range of measurement tools are available for monitoring how symptoms, typical of the climacteric period, affect patients with regard to their well-being, sleep disturbance, other somatic symptoms, cognitive function and sexual functioning. However, to gain a valid assessment of quality of life and the effects of treatment in the menopause, only standard and well-validated measurement tools should be used. The appropriateness of relying on the use of psychiatric rating scales to assess mood is questionable. Results obtained from an increasing number of controlled clinical studies indicate that treatment with oestrogen, in addition to alleviating vasomotor symptoms, can substantially improve patients' quality of life.