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Quality of life in non-melanoma skin cancer.
- Source :
- Australasian Journal of Dermatology; Feb2015, Vol. 56 Issue 1, p70-76, 7p, 2 Charts
- Publication Year :
- 2015
-
Abstract
- Basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma are the most common malignancies and are classified under the umbrella of non-melanoma skin cancer ( NMSC). NMSC exerts a small but appreciable decrement in quality of life ( QOL). The impact posed may arise from the tumour itself or as a result of treatment, and through symptoms, functional limitations, cosmetic burden and auxiliary considerations such as cost and disturbance to the activities of daily living. Researchers have evaluated this burden using a variety of outcome measures including generic, dermatology-specific and disease-specific instruments. The skin cancer index represents a promising disease-specific patient-reported outcome measure in this setting. To overcome some of the constraints inherent to disease-specific instruments, and to allow comparisons with other diseases, utility weightings have been developed. Utility weightings represent a cardinal measure for a specific health status and are established through methods such as the standard gamble, willingness-to-pay and time trade-off, and have also been employed to generate utility weightings for NMSC. Utilities are becoming increasingly important as a means of comparing health states across medicine and are of particular importance from a health-care policy perspective as they are used for resource allocation. The small but definite impact on the individual's QOL posed by NMSC should be a clinical consideration for physicians and it should be recognised by researchers as a potential outcome measure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 00048380
- Volume :
- 56
- Issue :
- 1
- Database :
- Complementary Index
- Journal :
- Australasian Journal of Dermatology
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 101005001
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1111/ajd.12205