Validity of a health-related quality-of-life scale for dogs with signs of pain secondary to cancer.
OBJECTIVE
To develop and validate a health-related quality-of-life scale for dogs with pain secondary to cancer.


METHODS
Questionnaire development.


METHODS
40 healthy dogs with no history or signs of pain, 20 dogs with dermatologic disease but no signs of pain other than mild pruritus, and 20 dogs with cancer.


METHODS
Owners of all dogs completed a questionnaire containing 12 questions with 4 options for each question, and a quality-of-life score ranging from 0 to 36 was calculated. Scores for dogs with cancer were compared with scores for healthy dogs and dogs with dermatologic disease.


RESULTS
All owners indicated that the questionnaire was easy to complete. Scores for healthy dogs were significantly different from scores for dogs with cancer and scores for dogs with dermatologic disease. Scores for dogs with dermatologic disease were significantly different from scores for dogs with cancer.


CONCLUSIONS
Results suggested that a simple questionnaire may be useful in assessing health-related quality of life in dogs with pain secondary to cancer, in that dogs with cancer had significantly lower scores than did healthy dogs and dogs with dermatologic disease.
Yazbek
Karina V B
KV
Department of Surgery, School of Veterinary Medicine, Universidade de São Paulo, Avenida Professor Doutor Orlando Marques de Paiva 87, cep 05508-900, Butantã, São Paulo-SP, Brazil.
Fantoni
Denise T
DT
D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology; D004283:Dog Diseases / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004285:Dogs; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000662:veterinary*; D010146:Pain / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D011594:Psychometrics; D011788:Quality of Life; D012871:Skin Diseases / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000662:veterinary; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*