Evaluating function and health related quality of life in patients treated for extremity soft tissue sarcoma.
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.
Schreiber
Daphne
D
Division of Outcomes and Population Health, Toronto Western Research Institute, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Bell
Robert S
RS
Wunder
Jay S
JS
O'Sullivan
Brian
B
Turcotte
Robert
R
Masri
Bassam A
BA
Davis
Aileen M
AM
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