It is difficult to choose the best chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) therapy. Patient-reported health-related quality of life (HRQoL) was thus an important factor to examine. The European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) conducted international research to assess the psychometric features of a newly created measure for CLL patients, the EORTC QLQ-CLL17, which was used to augment the core questionnaire (EORTC QLQ-C30). The QLQ-C30, QLQ-CLL17, and a debriefing questionnaire were completed by patients with CLL (n=341) from 12 countries. Medical records were used to collect sociodemographic and clinical information. A large number (30%–66%) experienced symptoms and/or concerns (e.g., muscular aches/pain, loss of energy, and health worries/fears).
Confirmatory factor analysis revealed that the 17 items on the three scales (symptom load, physical condition/fatigue, and concerns/fears about health and functioning) fit within an acceptable to good range. Completing the task took an average of 8 minutes. Convergent validity and test-retest validity were proven. The QLQ-CLL17 distinguished patients with an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance of 0 vs 1–3 (P’s 0.01 and clinically significant). The newly designed EORTC QLQ-CLL17 would improve HRQoL assessment sensitivity in CLL patients. The use of the questionnaire in clinical research and practice would aid in the generation of unique therapeutically relevant data that will serve to inform CLL treatment decision-making.
Reference:onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/bjh.18072
