Dictionary
The Dictionary provides concise definitions of health economics terms, arranged alphabetically for quick reference. Use it to understand unfamiliar terminology or confirm the meaning of a specific term.
#
- 15D15-Dimensional Instrument, 15-D
- A generic, multi-attribute quality of life instrument measuring fifteen health dimensions, each scored on five levels, combined into a single utility index.
A
- Anxiety Disorder CostCost of Anxiety, Anxiety Burden
- The total economic burden of anxiety disorders, covering direct treatment costs, lost workplace productivity, and broader impacts on quality of life.
- AQoLAssessment of Quality of Life
- A multi-attribute utility instrument, the Assessment of Quality of Life, converting responses across several dimensions into a single score anchored between death and full health.
B
- Best Supportive Care
- A treatment approach focused entirely on symptoms and quality of life, without treating the cancer itself, for patients unable to tolerate further treatment.
C
- Caregiver Outcome
- A measure capturing a health condition's impact on an informal carer, such as caregiving time, burden, or the carer's own quality of life.
- Caregiver Quality of Life
- A measure of the overall wellbeing of an informal carer, capturing caregiving's impact on their own physical health, emotions, and social functioning.
- Comfort Care
- A treatment approach focused entirely on relieving symptoms and maximising quality of life, without pursuing curative or life-prolonging treatment.
- Comprehensive Benefit Assessment
- A benefit assessment that considers several outcome domains at once, including mortality, morbidity, and quality of life.
D
- Depression Burden
- The total impact of depression on individuals and society, covering treatment costs, lost productivity, and reduced quality of life.
- Dimension-Specific Qol
- A quality of life measure focused on a single dimension, such as physical functioning, rather than combining several into an overall score.
- Disease-Specific Qol
- A quality of life measure capturing aspects of wellbeing most affected by a particular disease, such as its specific symptom burden.
E
- Emotional Function
- A dimension of health-related quality of life capturing a person's emotional state, including anxiety, sadness, or irritability tied to their condition.
- Emotional Wellbeing
- A broader construct than emotional function, covering a person's overall sense of psychological and emotional health within a quality of life assessment.
- Energy Level
- A clinical outcome measure capturing a patient's perceived vitality, often assessed as a subdomain within broader quality of life or fatigue instruments.
- EQ-5D
- A generic instrument measuring health-related quality of life across five dimensions, including mobility, self-care, and pain, widely used to generate cost-utility values.
- Equal Value of Life Year Gained
- An alternative to the QALY that values every extra year of life gained equally, regardless of the quality of life experienced during it.
G
- Generic HRQoLGeneric HRQoL, Generic Health-Related Quality of Life, Generic Hrqol
- A health-related quality of life measure designed for use across a broad range of diseases and populations, allowing cross-condition comparison.
- Global Health Status
- A summary scale within some quality of life instruments asking patients to rate overall health with a few general questions, unlike more detailed dimension scales.
H
- Health Outcome
- Any change in health status resulting from a healthcare intervention or a condition's natural course, from survival to patient-reported quality of life.
- Health-Related Quality of LifeHRQoL
- A multidimensional concept covering the physical, psychological, and social aspects of wellbeing affected by a person's health status or its treatment.
I
- Intangible Cost
- A cost representing the non-financial burden of illness or treatment, such as pain or reduced quality of life, that is hard to value in money.
M
- Missing Data Handling Qol
- The statistical methods used to address incomplete responses in quality of life questionnaires, which commonly arise from patient dropout or survey fatigue.
- Morbidity
- The state of being affected by a disease, covering associated symptoms, functional impairment, and reduced quality of life, unlike mortality.
P
- Pacemaker Economics
- The application of health economic evaluation to implantable pacemakers, weighing device and implant cost against improved quality of life for bradycardia.
- Palliative Care
- Specialised care relieving symptoms and stress of serious illness to improve quality of life, provided alongside or instead of curative treatment.
- Palliative Care Access
- A measure of the extent to which patients with serious illness are able to obtain needed palliative symptom management and quality of life care.
- Palliative Care Economics
- The application of health economic evaluation to specialist care relieving symptoms and improving quality of life for serious illness, regardless of prognosis.
- Palliative Care Economics Oncology
- The application of health economic evaluation to palliative care within oncology, focused on symptom management and quality of life regardless of curative treatment status.
- Palliative Therapy
- Treatment intended to relieve symptoms and improve quality of life for serious or terminal illness, without aiming to cure the condition.
- Patient Outcome
- A measurable change in health, function, symptoms, quality of life or survival experienced by a patient.
- Patient Value Message
- A concise statement summarising a technology's key benefits from patients' own perspective, addressing quality of life and treatment burden.
- Patient-Reported Outcome
- Any report of a patient's health status that comes directly from the patient without clinical interpretation, from symptom ratings to full quality of life instruments.
- Physical Function
- A dimension of health-related quality of life capturing an individual's ability to perform physical activities, such as walking or climbing stairs.
Q
- Quality of Life
- A broad concept covering a person's overall wellbeing, including physical, psychological, social, and material aspects, of which health is one part.
- Quality of Life Outcome
- A measure capturing a health condition or treatment's overall impact on a patient's wellbeing across physical, psychological, and social dimensions.
- Quality of Life Response
- A measure indicating a clinically meaningful improvement in quality of life following treatment, defined using an established minimal important difference threshold.
- Quality-Adjusted Expectancy
- A summary population health measure expressing expected remaining years of life weighted by health-related quality of life during those years.
- Quality-Adjusted Time Without Symptoms
- An oncology outcome measure, Q-TWiST, dividing survival into phases, such as toxicity, symptom-free time, and time after relapse, each weighted by quality of life.
R
- Role Function
- A dimension of health-related quality of life capturing an individual's ability to perform their usual social and occupational roles.
S
- Sexual Function
- A dimension of health-related quality of life capturing an individual's sexual health and functioning, affected by a range of conditions and treatments.
- Social Function
- A dimension of health-related quality of life capturing an individual's ability to engage in social relationships and activities.
T
- Transplant Economics
- The application of health economic evaluation to organ and tissue transplantation, weighing donor, surgical, and lifelong immunosuppression costs against survival and quality of life gains.
W
- Wellbeing
- A broad concept covering an individual's overall state of comfort, health, and happiness, of which health-related quality of life is one part.