[Is "quality of life" a relevant goal in clinical studies of rehabilitation?].

By consensus and in accordance with the WHO, the relevant outcomes of rehabilitation are "function" and "social participation". Nevertheless, most physicians will agree that improved Quality of Life (QoL) is the ultimate goal of medicine. Although many well-validated health-related QoL instruments are available, these are generally flawed due to considerable redundancy and lack of consistent responsiveness. Further efforts are required in order to engineer instruments that are in accordance with the WHO-ICF concept, which will make studies of the interaction between "symptoms", "activity", "social participation" and QoL meaningful.