Quality of life
Quality of life (QoL) is a multidimensional clinical metric describing a person’s perceived well-being and ability to function within physical, psychological, social, and role-related domains.
Quality of life (QoL) is a multidimensional clinical metric describing a person’s perceived well-being and ability to function within physical, psychological, social, and role-related domains. In medicine, it is commonly assessed through patient-reported outcomes that capture symptoms, functional capacity, emotional state, social participation, treatment burden, and satisfaction with care. Unlike mortality or survival, QoL reflects how a disease and its management affect the patient’s lived experience.
QoL is influenced by interacting clinical and social factors, including pain, fatigue, anxiety, depression, disability, nutrition, adverse events, treatment adherence, interpersonal support, and disease-related functional limitations. It is therefore used across oncology, rheumatology, neurology, infectious disease, rehabilitation, palliative care, and maternal health. In the supplied literature, QoL is evaluated alongside cancer, chemotherapy, breast cancer, acute stroke, mild cognitive impairment, HIV, rheumatoid arthritis, and musculoskeletal pain. It may serve as a primary outcome, a secondary patient-reported outcome, or one component of broader evaluations that also include survival, mortality, symptom control, caregiver burden, and health-care utilization.
QoL has no single biological mechanism of action because it is an outcome rather than a molecular target. Changes in QoL can reflect the combined effects of disease activity, pain and fatigue, emotional distress, physical function, social support, treatment toxicity, and the patient’s ability to participate in daily activities. Validated QoL instruments are consequently important for comparing interventions whose benefits may not be adequately represented by physiological measurements alone.
Where the papers sit
16 papers from the last 6 months study quality of life directly · updated from PubMed 1 Nov 2026
Study type 7 clinical trials · 5 observational · 4 human data
Themes 3 themes · 1 new direction
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Patient Function and Supportive Care
Supportive care is broadening from symptom relief to dignity, mobility and patient-defined function across advanced cancer and other chronic settings. Trials and protocols test medicinal cannabis, psychomotor therapy, yoga, Pilates and multidisciplinary cancer-pain management, while wearable mobility measures target readmission and mortality. Delphi work seeks core quality-of-life outcomes for vulvar cancer, reflecting a push toward standardized endpoints. Most approaches remain early or condition-specific, leaving comparative effectiveness and durable benefit unresolved.
8 papers · 50%
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Quality of Life Support
Quality-of-life care is moving toward tailored support that helps patients manage treatment, cognition, decisions and physical decline. Digital tools such as SMART4MD, breast-surgery decision aids and computerized diabetes item banks extend monitoring and shared decision-making. Nurse-led multicomponent exercise targets sarcopenia in haemodialysis, while district-level stroke care remains at protocol stage. The conditions differ widely, so the recurring theme is infrastructure for individualized assessment rather than one disease-specific intervention.
6 papers · 37.5%
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Lung Cancer Quality of Life
Body composition and patient-reported quality of life are being linked to prognosis in non-small cell lung cancer. CT-derived measures aim to predict postoperative quality of life, while one prospective study reports survival and quality-of-life gains from add-on homeopathy. The evidence remains limited by small, heterogeneous comparisons and the need for replication. Future work must separate treatment effects from baseline fitness and disease burden.
2 papers · 12.5%
Quality of life becomes a treatment-choice input rather than only a post-treatment outcome
The IDECIDE breast surgery patient decision aid for early-stage breast cancer treats quality-of-life information as evidence used during deliberation between breast-conserving surgery and mastectomy, rather than as an outcome assessed after treatment. The usual role represented in the set is to measure whether an intervention, disease state, or care model improves quality of life; this paper instead embeds institution-specific, real-world patient-reported quality-of-life data directly into the decision aid so that survivorship consequences can inform the choice itself. The resulting change is to make quality of life part of treatment selection, not merely a measure of treatment success 42722882Sep.
Papers
The 16 papers from the last 6 months that study quality of life directly, newest first, by theme and by study type. Study types come from PubMed publication types and MeSH headings.
By theme
Patient Function and Supportive Care (8)
- Determining core quality of life outcomes for patients with vulvar cancer and their partners: a Delphi consensus study. Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 6 Oct 2026 PMID 42837010
- Wearable-derived postdischarge mobility as a digital biomarker for 90-day readmission and mortality in metastatic cancer. Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 11 Sept 2026 PMID 42726154
- Study protocol of a randomized controlled trial for the effectiveness of psychomotor therapy on quality of life and psychomotor skills in depression. BMC psychiatry · 10 Sept 2026 PMID 42717325
- Effectiveness of Yoga and Combined Exercise in Female With Rheumatoid Arthritis: Randomized Controlled Trial. Musculoskeletal care · 28 Aug 2026 PMID 42661382
- Clinical and Patient-Reported Outcomes Following Multidisciplinary Management of Cancer-Related Pain: Protocol for a Prospective Observational Pre-Post Study. JMIR research protocols · 27 Aug 2026 PMID 42659650
- Fostering human dignity during chemotherapy: An explorative study on Dignity Therapy in advanced gastric and pancreatic cancer. Palliative & supportive care · 11 Aug 2026 PMID 42576446
- Effect of pilates exercises plus breastfeeding positioning adjustment on artificial intelligence-assessed craniovertebral angle in breastfeeding women with forward head posture: a randomized controlled trial. Scientific reports · 30 Jul 2026 PMID 42533012
- Phase I/II Double-Blind, Randomized Controlled Trial of Medicinal Cannabis on Quality of Life and Symptoms in Advanced Cancer: RESONANCE Trial Protocol. Clinical therapeutics · 20 Jul 2026 PMID 42476829
Quality of Life Support (6)
- Effects of a Nurse-Led Multicomponent Exercise Intervention for Haemodialysis Patients With Possible or Confirmed Sarcopenia: A Cluster Randomised Trial. Nursing open · 31 Oct 2026 PMID 42963345
- Quality of life item banks for type 2 diabetes: psychometric evaluation and computerized adaptive testing simulations. Quality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation · 21 Sept 2026 PMID 42766052
- IDECIDE breast surgery patient decision aid: Development and testing of a quality of life-integrated decision support tool. Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 10 Sept 2026 PMID 42722882
- Association Between Perceived Interpersonal Support and Quality of Life Among Adult Patients Undergoing Chemotherapy at an Integrated Academic Cancer Institute. Rhode Island medical journal (2013) · 26 Aug 2026 PMID 42647840
- Effectiveness of a District-Level Comprehensive Acute Stroke Care Model for Management of Patients With Acute Stroke in Karnataka: Protocol for a Quasi-Experimental Study. JMIR research protocols · 14 Aug 2026 PMID 42600156
- Effects of the Digital App "Support, Monitoring and Reminder Technology for Mild Dementia" (SMART4MD) on People With Mild Cognitive Impairment and Their Informal Caregivers: 18-Month Multicenter Pragmatic Randomized Controlled Trial. Journal of medical Internet research · 24 Jul 2026 PMID 42497412
Lung Cancer Quality of Life (2)
- Improved quality of life and prolonged survival with add-on homeopathic treatment in patients with non-small cell lung cancer: a prospective, randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind, three-arm, multicenter study. Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 10 Sept 2026 PMID 42720799
- Computed tomography body composition-based prediction of postoperative quality of life in non-small cell lung cancer patients. Biomedizinische Technik. Biomedical engineering · 27 Jul 2026 PMID 42504441
By study type
Clinical trials (7)
- Effects of a Nurse-Led Multicomponent Exercise Intervention for Haemodialysis Patients With Possible or Confirmed Sarcopenia: A Cluster Randomised Trial. Nursing open · 31 Oct 2026 PMID 42963345
- Improved quality of life and prolonged survival with add-on homeopathic treatment in patients with non-small cell lung cancer: a prospective, randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind, three-arm, multicenter study. Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 10 Sept 2026 PMID 42720799
- Study protocol of a randomized controlled trial for the effectiveness of psychomotor therapy on quality of life and psychomotor skills in depression. BMC psychiatry · 10 Sept 2026 PMID 42717325
- Effectiveness of Yoga and Combined Exercise in Female With Rheumatoid Arthritis: Randomized Controlled Trial. Musculoskeletal care · 28 Aug 2026 PMID 42661382
- Effect of pilates exercises plus breastfeeding positioning adjustment on artificial intelligence-assessed craniovertebral angle in breastfeeding women with forward head posture: a randomized controlled trial. Scientific reports · 30 Jul 2026 PMID 42533012
- Effects of the Digital App "Support, Monitoring and Reminder Technology for Mild Dementia" (SMART4MD) on People With Mild Cognitive Impairment and Their Informal Caregivers: 18-Month Multicenter Pragmatic Randomized Controlled Trial. Journal of medical Internet research · 24 Jul 2026 PMID 42497412
- Phase I/II Double-Blind, Randomized Controlled Trial of Medicinal Cannabis on Quality of Life and Symptoms in Advanced Cancer: RESONANCE Trial Protocol. Clinical therapeutics · 20 Jul 2026 PMID 42476829
Observational studies and case reports (5)
- Quality of life item banks for type 2 diabetes: psychometric evaluation and computerized adaptive testing simulations. Quality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation · 21 Sept 2026 PMID 42766052
- Wearable-derived postdischarge mobility as a digital biomarker for 90-day readmission and mortality in metastatic cancer. Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 11 Sept 2026 PMID 42726154
- Clinical and Patient-Reported Outcomes Following Multidisciplinary Management of Cancer-Related Pain: Protocol for a Prospective Observational Pre-Post Study. JMIR research protocols · 27 Aug 2026 PMID 42659650
- Association Between Perceived Interpersonal Support and Quality of Life Among Adult Patients Undergoing Chemotherapy at an Integrated Academic Cancer Institute. Rhode Island medical journal (2013) · 26 Aug 2026 PMID 42647840
- Computed tomography body composition-based prediction of postoperative quality of life in non-small cell lung cancer patients. Biomedizinische Technik. Biomedical engineering · 27 Jul 2026 PMID 42504441
Human data, design not indexed (4)
- Determining core quality of life outcomes for patients with vulvar cancer and their partners: a Delphi consensus study. Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 6 Oct 2026 PMID 42837010
- IDECIDE breast surgery patient decision aid: Development and testing of a quality of life-integrated decision support tool. Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 10 Sept 2026 PMID 42722882
- Effectiveness of a District-Level Comprehensive Acute Stroke Care Model for Management of Patients With Acute Stroke in Karnataka: Protocol for a Quasi-Experimental Study. JMIR research protocols · 14 Aug 2026 PMID 42600156
- Fostering human dignity during chemotherapy: An explorative study on Dignity Therapy in advanced gastric and pancreatic cancer. Palliative & supportive care · 11 Aug 2026 PMID 42576446
Written from 16 PubMed abstracts, each one listed by PMID above. Published: 2026-09-02. Last written: 2026-09-23 by GPT. Drafted by language models from published abstracts; not medical advice.