Assessment of quality of life and symptom improvement in lung cancer clinical trials.

The majority of lung cancers are diagnosed at advanced stages when treatment options are limited and mainly palliative. In advanced lung cancer, quality-of-life (QOL) issues have become an integral part of making decisions about various treatment options. Recent clinical trials in patients with lung cancer have assessed symptom improvement and QOL as important endpoints.

Quality of life in women with heart failure, normative groups, and patients with other chronic conditions.

Background: In the United States, 2.5 million women have heart failure, yet little is known about their quality of life. Because most studies included small samples of women, the results are not generalizable.

Triage practice guideline for patients hospitalized with congestive heart failure: improving the effectiveness of the coronary care unit.

Background: Decisions regarding the appropriate timing for transfer of patients hospitalized with congestive heart failure from the coronary care unit (CCU) to the medical ward are often not based on well-founded medical data. We investigated the potential safety and effectiveness of a practice guideline recommending early "step-down" transfer of low-risk patients with congestive heart failure.

Patients And Methods: We studied the use of a practice guideline for 384 patients hospitalized with congestive heart failure in a hypothetic experiment.