Health-Related Quality of Life After TBI: A Systematic Review of Study Design, Instruments, Measurement Properties, and Outcome

Population Health Metrics

Polinder, S., Haagsma, J. A., et al. (2015).

Population Health Metrics, 13, Article 4.

This systematic review investigates the measurement properties of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) instruments for patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Not stated

January 1991 to July 1, 2013

Randomized controlled trials; cohort studies; case-control studies; clinical trials; validation studies of HRQL instruments

49 studies included in the systematic review; 22 studies included in the meta-analysis

Findings regarding specific HRQoL measures for use after TBI were as follows:<br /> <ul> <li><span style="color: #333333;">The Short Form-36 (SF-36) was the most often studied measure, demonstrating fair to good internal consistency (3 studies), excellent reliability (1 study), good content validity (1 study), fair to good validity-hypothesis testing (3 studies), and excellent interpretability (1 study).&nbsp;</span></li> <li><span style="color: #333333;">The Quality of Life after Brain Injury (GOLIBRI) demonstrated excellent content validity (2 studies), good validity-hypothesis testing (2 studies), good responsiveness (1 study), and good interpretability (1 study).&nbsp;</span></li> <li><span style="color: #333333;">Within 1 study, the QOLIBRI Overall Scale (QOLIBRI-OS) demonstrated good validity-hypothesis testing and excellent internal consistency, content validity, and structural validity.</span></li> <li><span style="color: #333333;">Within 1 study, the European Brain Injury Questionnaire (EBIQ) demonstrated excellent internal consistency and fair content validity.</span></li> <li><span style="color: #333333;">Within 1 study, the Child Health Questionnaire (CHQ) demonstrated fair validity-hypothesis testing.</span></li> <li><span style="color: #333333;">Within 1 study, the World Health Organization Quality of Life Instrument-Brief Version (WHOQOL-BREF) showed excellent internal consistency and validity-hypothesis testing and good reliability, content validity, responsiveness, and interpretability.&nbsp;</span></li> </ul> <span style="color: #333333;"> The authors conclude that using a combination of tools (e.g., the SF-36 with a TBI-specific measure such as the QOLIBRI) demonstrates promise in assessing HRQoL in individuals status-post TBI. However, due to an overall paucity of evidence, further research is indicated to determine the true effectiveness of these measures.&nbsp;</span>