Impaired quality of life in patients commencing radiotherapy for cancer.
BACKGROUND
This study tested a three-item questionnaire to measure global quality of life (QOL) and pain in patients commencing radiotherapy, based on items from the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) QLQ-C30 instrument.


METHODS
In a pretest, the EORTC QLQ-C30 and the three-item short questionnaire were administered to 100 patients, yielding similar global QOL and pain scores. After the pretest, the three-item questionnaire was administered to 1,837 patients prior to first radiotherapy treatment.


RESULTS
254 (13.8%) patients with impaired QOL were identified. These patients had a mean global QOL score of 32.6 compared to 72.4 (p < 0.001) found in patients with satisfactory QOL. Patients with impaired QOL were also more likely < 60 years and treated for lung, gastrointestinal or head and neck cancer or advanced, metastatic cancer.


CONCLUSIONS
This brief questionnaire addresses important aspects of QOL, is feasible to use in a clinical setting and therefore represents a potentially useful tool for detecting those patients who may benefit from further evaluation and/or psychosocial support.
Janda
Monika
M
Department of Radiotherapy and Radiobiology, Medical School, University of Vienna, General Hospital, Vienna, Austria. monikaj@qcfepi.org.au
Newman
Beth
B
Obermair
Andreas
A
Woelfl
Hedwig
H
Trimmel
Michael
M
Schroeckmayr
Heidi
H
Widder
Joachim
J
Poetter
Richard
R
D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D010147:Pain Measurement / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010348:Patient Care Team; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D011878:Radiotherapy / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000523:psychology*; D012016:Reference Values; D012017:Referral and Consultation; D012803:Sick Role; D018434:Sickness Impact Profile