Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology, 49(7): pp. 516-521.This study assessed quality of life (QOL) and health-related
quality of life (HRQOL) of 203 adolescents with cerebral
palsy (111 males, 92 females; mean age 16y [SD 1y 9mo]).
Participants were classified using the Gross Motor Function
Classification System (GMFCS), as Level I (n=60), Level II
(n=33), Level III (n=28), Level IV (n=50), or Level V
(n=32). QOL was assessed by self (66.5%) or by proxy
(33.5%) with the Quality of Life Instrument for People With
Developmental Disabilities, which asks about the importance
and satisfaction associated with the QOL domains of Being,
Belonging, and Becoming; HRQOL was captured through
proxy reports with the Health Utilities Index, Mark 3
(HUI3), which characterizes health in terms of eight
attributes, each having five or six ordered levels of function.
GMFCS level was not a source of variation for QOL domain
scores but was significantly associated with the eight HRQOL
attributes and overall HUI3 utility scores (p<0.05). Some
QOL domain scores varied significantly by type of respondent
(self vs proxy; p<0.05). Overall HUI3 utility values were
significantly but weakly correlated with QOL Instrument
scores for Being (r=0.37), Belonging (r=0.17), Becoming
(r=0.20), and Overall QOL (r=0.28), and thus explain up to
14% of the variance (r2). These findings suggest that
although QOL and HRQOL are somewhat related
conceptually, they are different constructs and need to be
considered as separate dimensions of the lives of people with
functional limitations