Health-related Quality-of-Life Data Can Help Predict Survival in Patients With Cancer

Baseline health-related quality of life (HRQOL) values can predict survival according to a recent retrospective study of survival data of 10,108 patients published in the Sept. 9, 2009, Lancet Oncology.

British researchers assessed the survival data of patients involved in 30 randomized controlled trials between 1986 to 2004 sponsored by the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC). Patients were included in the study if they had completed a baseline HRQOL assessment, along with the EORTC core quality of life questionnaire. Additional variables included age, younger or older than 60; gender; WHO performance status, 0 to 1 versus 2 to 3; whether they had distant metastases; and the cancer site.

After taking into account the variables and 15 QLQ-C30 scales, three factors raised the predictive value 6 percent: physical functioning, appetite loss and pain. The researchers also discovered prognostic information in age, gender and distant metastases, but not WHO performance status, according to Chantal Quinten et al in the article "Baseline Quality of Life as a Prognostic Indicator of Survival: A Meta-analysis of Individual Patient Data From EORTC Clinical Trials."

"The results suggest that HRQOL scales provide prognostic information in addition to that of sociodemographic and clinical measures," stated the authors. "This study shows that HRQOL data can help to predict survival in patients with cancer."