Quality of life as a prognostic indicator of survival: A pooled analysis of individual patient data from canadian cancer trials group clinical trials.

Background: The aims of this study were to externally validate an established association between baseline health-related quality of life (HRQOL) scores and survival and to assess the added prognostic value of HRQOL with respect to demographic and clinical indicators.

Methods: Pooled data were analyzed from 17 randomized controlled trials opened by the Canadian Cancer Trials Group between 1991 and 2004; they included survival and baseline HRQOL data from 3606 patients with 8 different cancer sites. The models included sex, age (≤60 vs >60 years), World Health Organization performance status (0 or 1 vs 2-4), distant metastases (no vs yes), and 15 European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) Core Quality-of-Life Questionnaire (QLQ-C30) scales.

A systematic review of the quality of statistical methods employed for analysing quality of life data in cancer randomised controlled trials.

Aims: Over the last decades, Health-related Quality of Life (HRQoL) end-points have become an important outcome of the randomised controlled trials (RCTs). HRQoL methodology in RCTs has improved following international consensus recommendations. However, no international recommendations exist concerning the statistical analysis of such data.

Impact of neurocognitive deficits on patient-proxy agreement regarding health-related quality of life in low-grade glioma patients.

Purpose: Clinical trials in glioma patients with neurocognitive deficits face challenges due to lacking or unreliable patient self-reports on their health-related quality of life (HRQOL). Patient-proxy data could help solve this issue. We determined whether patient-proxy concordance levels were affected by patients' neurocognitive functioning.

Health-related quality of life in locally advanced and metastatic breast cancer: methodological and clinical issues in randomised controlled trials.

Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer death among women worldwide, and increasingly, randomised controlled trials of this disease are measuring the health-related quality of life of these patients. In this systematic Review, we assess the adequacy of methods used to report health-related quality of life (HRQOL) from 49 eligible randomised controlled trials of advanced breast cancer. We compare our findings with those from the literature to investigate whether the standard of HRQOL reporting in this field has changed.

The effects of age on health-related quality of life in cancer populations: A pooled analysis of randomized controlled trials using the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) QLQ-C30 involving 6024 cancer patients.

Background: Cancer incidence increases exponentially with advancing age, cancer patients live longer than in the past, and many new treatments focus on stabilizing disease and HRQOL. The objective of this study is to examine how cancer affects patients' HRQOL and whether their HRQOL is age-dependent.

Methods: Data from 25 EORTC randomized controlled trials was pooled.

Joint modeling of longitudinal health-related quality of life data and survival.

Purpose: In cancer research, outcome measures may co-vary. Treatment and treatment related impairment of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) may affect survival. When these effects are analyzed separately, bias may arise.

Health-related quality of life in small-cell lung cancer: a systematic review on reporting of methods and clinical issues in randomised controlled trials.

Small-cell lung cancer represents about 15% of all lung cancers; increasingly, randomised controlled trials of this disease measure the health-related quality of life of patients. In this Systematic Review we assess the adequacy of reporting of health-related quality-of-life methods in randomised controlled trials of small-cell lung cancer, and the potential effect of this reporting on clinical decision making. Although overall reporting of health-related quality of life was acceptable, improvements are needed to optimise the use of health-related quality of life in randomised controlled trials.