Modern aspects of the study of the quality of life in children with cystic fibrosis

Abstract

There is presented a review of recent data on the changes in quality of life (QL) in children suffering from cystic fibrosis (CF). The recurrence of acute pulmonary infections was shown to significantly reduce health-related QL. In this aggressive treatment of exacerbations ofpulmonary infection leads to a significant improvement in QL, and to gain in the life expectancy ofpatients with CF. Used in clinical practice methods demonstrate the effectiveness in the short term period, but their impact on health-related QL has not yet been studied. The use of the concept of Quality adjusted life year (QALY) in conjunction with the pharmacoeconomic analysis is the one out of promising directions, which allows in the comparative plan to determine the ratio between cost and effectiveness, safety and QL in alternative schemes of treatment of the disease. The use of the QALY index in the analysis of the CF will allow to execute the cumulative determination as the ratio of "cost-effectiveness", and the influence of the conducted therapy on health-related QL ofpatients, which is an inherent component of the evaluation of the estimation of usefulness of specific therapeutic approaches.