[Quality of life in the medical field : a brief overview of its origin, semantics, measuring instruments and clinical use].

Since the early 1970s, the concept of quality of life has been the subject of increasing interest in the medical field, although no scientific consensus has emerged on how to define and measure it. The aim of this narrative review of the literature is to decrypt the notion of quality of life in the medical field, in order to enable clinicians-researchers and clinicians who use quality of life measurement instruments in clinical practice to form an informed and nuanced opinion on the issue. To do so, the paper is divided into three parts. Firstly, a brief overview of the origin of the concept in the medical field is given by exposing the main factors explaining its emergence and its rise in importance. Next, the plurality of definitions of quality of life and its derivatives (e.g. health-related quality of life), as well as its measurement instruments in the medical field, are explored. Finally, some benchmarks for the use of health-related quality of life instruments in clinical practice are presented.