Quality of life in patients with choroidal melanoma: a pilot study.
OBJECTIVE
To assess the internal consistency of a short, widely-used health-related quality of life instrument in patients with choroidal melanoma, its appropriateness for use in a large clinical trial in patients with that disease, and the feasibility of various methods of instrument administration.


METHODS
The SF-36 was administered to 31 choroidal melanoma patients identified from two ocular oncology practices. Fifteen patients were interviewed by telephone, 4 were interviewed in person at the clinic, and 12 patients completed the instrument themselves while at the clinic.


RESULTS
Twenty-three patients had already been treated for choroidal melanoma; 20 patients were treated with some form of radiation. The remaining 8 patients had not yet been treated. Metastasis had not been diagnosed in any of the patients. Patient age ranged from 37 to 85 years with a median of 59 years; 55% of the patients were female. The in-person and telephone interviews performed better than self-administered interviews in terms of missing items due to non-response (0% vs. 3.2%). The overall SF-36 health profile for the choroidal melanoma patients was similar in shape to that expected for a general U.S. population sample with the same age and gender distribution, although the choroidal melanoma patients averaged 4 to 11 points higher, indicating better health-related quality of life, for all scales except the role functioning-emotional scale.


CONCLUSIONS
The results supported the internal consistency of the SF-36 in this population. Interviewer administration of the SF-36 either in-person or by telephone was acceptable to the patients and provided more complete data.
Melia
B M
BM
Wilmer Ophthalmological Institute, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
Moy
C S
CS
McCaffrey
L
L
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002830:Choroid Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology* / Q000532:radiotherapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008545:Melanoma / Q000523:psychology* / Q000532:radiotherapy; D008875:Middle Aged; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011788:Quality of Life; D018434:Sickness Impact Profile; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014792:Visual Acuity