 The SF-12 is a commonly used survey instrument for measuring health-related quality of life. It has been widely used in clinical research and increasingly so in practice. However, scoring the SF-12 can be time-consuming and difficult due to its complexity. A new study examined whether a simpler, briefed version of the SF-12 could be used as a substitute for the full version. The study found that the brief version of the SF-12 produced results that were highly comparable to those obtained using the full version. This suggests that the brief version may be a useful tool for quick assessment of health-related quality of life in clinical settings. This article was authored by Gavin Andrews.