title: Evaluating function and health related quality of life in patients treated for extremity soft tissue sarcoma.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate how functional disability impacts on health related quality of life (HRQOL) of patients with extremity soft tissue sarcoma (STS) at 1 year post-surgery.
  
  
  METHODS
  Survey of extremity STS patients pre-surgery and one-year post-treatment.
  
  
  METHODS
  100 participants who were treated for extremity STS between 2001 and 2003 at four Canadian hospitals. Patients were over 16 years, non-metastatic at diagnosis, and had limb salvage surgery.
  
  
  METHODS
  Musculoskeletal Tumor Society Rating Scale (MSTS), a measure of impairment; Toronto Extremity Salvage Score (TESS), a measure of activity limitations; Reintegration to Normal Living Index (RNL), a measure of participation restrictions; and EQ-VAS, a measure of HRQOL.
  
  
  RESULTS
  After adjusting for demographic and clinical variables, impairment explained 54%, activity limitations explained 48%, and participation restrictions explained 61% of the variation in HRQOL. After adjustment, when all three functional measures were included in the model, only participation restrictions had a significant impact on HRQOL explaining 63% of the variation.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Impairment and activity limitations affect the daily activities a patient can perform, but it is the restriction in participation of life roles and situations that has the greatest effect on patient's HRQOL.
authors.affiliation: Division of Outcomes and Population Health, Toronto Western Research Institute, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Daphne
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Schreiber
authors.forename: Robert S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Bell
authors.forename: Jay S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Wunder
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: O'Sullivan
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Turcotte
authors.forename: Bassam A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Masri
authors.forename: Aileen M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Davis
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002170:Canada; D016208:Databases, Factual; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015337:Multicenter Studies as Topic; D011184:Postoperative Period; D011788:Quality of Life; D012509:Sarcoma / Q000145:classification / Q000523:psychology* / Q000601:surgery; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires