title: Longitudinal health-related quality of life assessment implications for prognosis in stage IV pancreatic cancer.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We investigated whether changes in quality of life (QoL) during treatment could predict survival in stage IV pancreatic cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  Quality of life was evaluated at baseline and after 3 months of treatment using European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire (EORTC QLQ-C30) in 186 patients with stage IV pancreatic cancer. Cox regression evaluated the prognostic significance of baseline and changes in QoL scores after adjusting for age, sex, and treatment history.
  
  
  RESULTS
  One hundred twenty-one patients were males and 65 were females. One hundred twenty-seven patients' condition was newly diagnosed, whereas 59 were previously treated. The mean age at diagnosis was 55.1 years. Baseline QoL scale predictive of survival upon multivariate analysis was global health (hazard ratio, 0.88; 95% confidence interval, 0.81-0.95; P = 0.001). On multivariate analysis, QoL change variable that was significantly predictive of survival after 3 months of treatment was cognitive function (hazard ratio, 0.89; 95% confidence interval, 0.79-0.99; P = 0.04).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study provides preliminary evidence to indicate that patients with stage IV pancreatic cancer who have a better global health at baseline as well as those whose cognitive function improves within 3 months of treatment have a significantly increased probability of survival.
authors: Office of Clinical Research, Cancer Treatment Centers of America, Zion, IL 60099, USA.
authors: Donald P
authors: DP
authors: Braun
authors: Digant
authors: D
authors: Gupta
authors: Edgar D
authors: ED
authors: Staren
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003071:Cognition; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy*; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D011788:Quality of Life; D012042:Registries; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012919:Social Behavior; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014481:United States; D055815:Young Adult