Table 1.

List of 14 criteria assessing the methodological quality of HRQOL studies of melanoma patients

A	Socio-demographic and medical data are described (e.g. age, race, employment status, educational status, tumour stage at diagnosis, etc.)
B	Inclusion and/or exclusion criteria are formulated
C	The process of data collection is described (e.g. interview or self-report, etc.)
D	The type of cancer is described.
E	The results are compared between two groups or more (e.g. health population, groups with different cancer treatment or age, comparison with time at diagnosis, etc.).
F	Mean or median and range or standard deviation of time since diagnosis or treatment is given.
G	Participation and response rates for patient groups have to be described and have to be >75%.
H	Information is presented about patient/disease characteristics of respondents and non-respondents or if there is no selective response.
I	A standardised or valid QOL questionnaire is used.
J.	Results are described not only for QOL but also for the physical, psychological and social domains.
K.	Mean, median, standard deviations or percentages are reported for the most important outcome measures.
L.	An attempt is made to find a set of determinants with the highest prognostic value.
M.	Patient signed an informed consent form before study participation.
N.	The degree of selection of the patient sample is described.