The question often asked by researchers when conducting clinical trials is, "does this treatment improve Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL)?". This is a far more difficult question to answer than might be at first thought, mostly because measuring many aspects of change is highly subject and people will often use different 'yardsticks' due to their levels of personal expectation, which can also vary over time. So a rating of the same thing will differ, and this is a problem if you are trying to determine whether or not a new treatment works.
There has to be a reliance on patient questionnaires to assess HRQoL. These could cover a number of different areas, for example:
- The physical
- A range of disease related symptoms
- Financial impact
- Side effects
- Social impact
- Emotional impact
- Cognitive functions
- Work- or role-related implications
- Spiritual wellbeing
An Oxford team of researchers have come up with a sophisticated system of measurement specifically for endometriosis, which they have called the 'Endometriosis Health Profile' or EHP. They state that this "is a reliable and valid instrument for assessing areas of concern to women with endometriosis that are not addressed by other condition-specific and generic questionnaires".
The point is that there are many so-called 'cures' for endometriosis, but there is a big difference between those treatments that have been objectively measured and assessed, or are 'evidence-based', and those that are not. This highlights the need to seek authoritative and trustworthy advice from the relevant medical school experts in endometriosis - such as Mr Ertan Saridogan and Mr Adrian Lower.
