PURPOSE Quality of life (QOL) is an important concept in the field of health and medicine. QOL is a complex concept that is interpreted and defined differently within and between disciplines, including the fields of health and medicine. The aims of this study were to systematically review the literature on QOL in medicine and health research and to describe the country of origin, target groups, instruments, design, and conceptual issues. METHODS A systematic review was conducted to identify research studies on QOL and health-related quality of life (HRQOL). The databases Scopus, which includes Embase and MEDLINE, CINAHL, and PsycINFO were searched for articles published during one random week in November 2016. The ten predefined criteria of Gill and Feinstein were used to evaluate the conceptual and methodological rigor. RESULTS QOL research is international and involves a variety of target groups, research designs, and QOL measures. According to the criteria of Gill and Feinstein, the results show that only 13% provided a definition of QOL, 6% distinguished QOL from HRQOL. The most frequently fulfilled criteria were: (i) stating the domains of QOL to be measured; (ii) giving a reason for choosing the instruments used; and (iii) aggregating the results from multiple items. CONCLUSION QOL is an important endpoint in medical and health research, and QOL research involves a variety of patient groups and different research designs. Based on the current evaluation of the methodological and conceptual clarity of QOL research, we conclude that the majority QOL studies in health and medicine have conceptual and methodological challenges.

中文翻译：

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对医学和健康科学领域的生命研究质量的系统评价。

目的生活质量（QOL）是健康和医学领域的重要概念。QOL是一个复杂的概念，在包括卫生和医学领域在内的各个学科内部和学科之间的解释和定义不同。这项研究的目的是系统地回顾医学和健康研究中有关QOL的文献，并描述起源国，目标人群，仪器，设计和概念问题。方法进行了系统的审查，以确定有关QOL和健康相关生活质量（HRQOL）的研究。在2016年11月的一个随机星期内，搜索包括Embase和MEDLINE，CINAHL和PsycINFO在内的数据库Scopus，以查找吉尔和费恩斯坦的十个预定标准来评估概念和方法上的严谨性。结果QOL研究是国际性的，涉及各种目标群体，研究设计和QOL措施。根据Gill和Feinstein的标准，结果表明，只有13％的人提供了QOL的定义，有6％的人将HRQOL与QOL相区别。最经常满足的标准是：（i）说明要测量的QOL的范围；（ii）给出选择使用的工具的理由；（iii）汇总多个项目的结果。结论QOL是医学和健康研究的重要终点，并且QOL研究涉及各种患者群体和不同的研究设计。根据目前对QOL研究方法和概念清晰度的评估，我们得出结论，健康和医学领域的大多数QOL研究都存在概念和方法挑战。