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Velarde-Jurado E, Avila-Figueroa C. Methods for quality of life assessment. Salud Publica Mex 2002;44:349-361. The English version of this paper is available at: http://www.insp.mx/salud/index.html Abstract This paper reviews the methods and principles for quality of life assessment. The aging of the population and the im- proved survival of people with acute and chronic condi- tions have produced several levels of disability requiring long-term treatment and rehabilitation. In 1948 the World Health Organization defined health as not merely the ab- sence of disease but rather a state of complete physical, mental, and social well being. This term evolved from its conceptual definition to the development of scales to mea- sure the quality of life beyond physical status. Thus, quality of life assessment includes areas such as mental health, so- cial support, and life satisfaction. It is recognized that the expectations, vitality, pain, disability, and personal experien- ces influence the perception of a person's general health. A composite measurement aimed to quantify health accord- ing to physical, mental, and social well being simultaneously would likely find people at different points on the three different continua, but in the midranges of the composite. The multidimensionality problems and the level of subjec- tivity involved in the assessment of the quality of life re- quire valid and reliable instruments. This paper present an inventory of 126 questionnaires aimed to measure the quality of life for several diseases and populations. A better under- standing of the methods to assess the quality of life will allow the incorporation of these instruments in the com- prehensive assessment of patients, into clinical trials, and for health services research. The English version of this pa- per is available at: http://www.insp.mx/salud/index.html

Velarde-Jurado E, Estrada-Reyes E, Erana-Guerra L, Raya-Rivera A, Velazquez-Armenta EY, Nava-Ocampo AA. Sexually transmitted infections associated with vulvovaginal symptoms in adolescents denying sexual activity. Salud Publica Mex 2003;45 suppl 5:S641-S646. The English version of this paper is available too at: http://www.insp.mx/salud/index.html Abstract Objective. To identify clinical, laboratory and ultrasono- graphic evidence of a probable sexually transmitted infec- tion associated with vulvovaginal symptoms in adolescents denying sexual activity. Material and Methods. The medi- cal records of female adolescents, aged 10-18 years were reviewed. These women received first-time medical care for vulvovaginitis, between 1995 and 1999 at Hospital Infantil de Mexico Federico Gomez, (Children's Hospital). Compa- risons between groups were performed, as appropriate, by the unpaired Student's t-test, the Z test or the chi-square test; statistically significant differences were set at a two- tailed p

This paper reviews the methods and principles for quality of life assessment. The aging of the population and the improved survival of people with acute and chronic conditions have produced several levels of disability requiring long-term treatment and rehabilitation. In 1948 the World Health Organization defined health as not merely the absence of disease but rather a state of complete physical, mental, and social well being. This term evolved from its conceptual definition to the development of scales to measure the quality of life beyond physical status. Thus, quality of life assessment includes areas such as mental health, social support, and life satisfaction. It is recognized that the expectations, vitality, pain, disability, and personal experiences influence the perception of a person's general health. A composite measurement aimed to quantify health according to physical, mental, and social well being simultaneously would likely include people at clearly different points on the three different continua, but in the midranges of the composite. The multidimensionality problems and the level of subjectivity involved in the assessment of the quality of life require valid and reliable instruments. This paper present an inventory of 126 questionnaires aimed to measure the quality of life for several diseases and populations. A better understanding of the methods to assess the quality of life will allow the incorporation of these instruments in the comprehensive assessment of patients, into clinical trials, and for health services research.

In Mexico sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) represent a major public health problem among adolescents. Traditionally patients are consulted in the presence of parents and privacy during clinical history is usually rejected by parents pressure. In this letter of the editor Elizabeth Velarde-Jurado of the Hospital Infantil de Mexico and colleagues reviewed the databases of the Adolescence Service in order to analyze demographic aspects and clinical characteristics of adolescent female patients aged 10-18 years seen between January 1995 and December 1999 and suffering vulvovaginitis. Information was retrieved from the medical records of 265 patients. Overall findings demonstrated that in 53 (20.0%) patients a sexually transmitted microorganism was identified. The study also showed that 98.1% of Mexican adolescents with a vulvovaginitis secondary to an STD denied sexual activity. This denial is naturally responding to unregulated rights for privacy of adolescents resulting in extensive and expensive evaluations in order to establish an STD diagnosis. Velarde-Jurado and colleagues consider these results as proof of the negative consequences of inadequate privacy protection.