How Quality of Life as Patient-Reported Outcome Has Been Studied for Rheumatoid Arthritis in Chinese-Speaking Population

Objective: To review the use of health-related quality-of-life (HRQOL) instruments as patient-reported outcome in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in studies that have been published in Chinese-speaking populations. Methods: Overlapping searching strategy was used using four publication databases: PubMed and EMBASE for English publications and Wanfang and CNKI for Chinese publications. Entries published between January 1, 1990, and July 31, 2014, were retrieved and then reviewed independently by two researchers. The identified studies were summarized according to information source, publishing year, study location, and study type. The validation studies were examined closely in terms of their sample sizes and psychometric properties. Results: There were 99 studies from the databases selected for review. Among the studies reviewed, most studies were conducted in Mainland China. There was a clear overall increasing trend in the number of studies in recent years. Generic instruments ee front matter Copyright & 2015, International S