Assessing quality of life in leukemia: presentation of an instrument for assessing quality of life in patients with blood malignancies.

The Life Ingredient Profile (LIP)--a new instrument for iterated quality of life assessments in patients with haematological malignancies--is presented. It is intended to reflect the patient's estimation of the symptoms of disease as well as the side-effects of treatment and is designed for comparing different regimens of chemotherapy. In a pilot study of 35 patients with myeloma, lymphoma and acute leukaemia, the LIP showed good validity, reliability and sensitivity to change. It was easy to apply and the structured interviews took only 10-20 min. LIP appears to assess important dimensions of quality of life without being a burden to the patient or the nursing staff.