Health is the most significant part of quality of life. Generally, quality of life outcome instruments used in healthcare confine their attention to health related areas, assessing health related quality of life. The present study aims to describe some commonly used health profile instruments such as the generic measures SF-36, Nottingham Health Profile and Sickness Impact Profile; and the preference-based measures EuroQol and SF-6D. The latter preference-based instruments are increasingly used in outcome studies and obtained data might be used for calculating quality-adjusted life-years.