Abstract
Purpose: To assess the relationship between patient-reported quality-of-life (QOL) outcomes and provider-assessed adverse events (AEs) during head-and-neck (H&N) radiotherapy (RT). Methods: Sixty-five patients undergoing H&N RT prospectively completed 12-domain linear analogue self-assessments (LASA) at baseline, before biweekly appointments, and at last week of RT. At the same time points, provider-assessed AEs were graded using Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events v4.0. LASA scores were stratified by maximum-grade AE and analyzed using Kruskal-Wallis methodology. Agreement between LASA scores and maximum-grade AE was assessed using Bland-Altman analysis. Results: Patient-reported QOL outcomes showed clinically meaningful decreases in most domains, predominantly fatigue (77.8% of patients), social activity (75.4%), and overall QOL (74.2%). Provider-assessed AEs showed 100% grade 2 AE, 35.4% grade 3 AE, and 3.1% grade 4 AE. At baseline, patients with higher grade AEs reported worse physical well-being (WB) (P =.04). At week 1, the following QOL domains were worse for patients with higher grade AEs: overall QOL (P =.03), mental WB (P =.02), and physical WB (P =.03). Bland-Altman analysis showed that QOL scores were relatively worse than AE burden at baseline and relatively better at RT completion. Conclusions: Worse QOL was associated with higher-grade AEs at baseline and early in RT. The impact of AEs on QOL appears to lessen with time. Patient-reported QOL outcomes and provider-assessed AEs provide complementary information.
Original language | English (US) |
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Article number | 60 |
Journal | Journal of Patient-Reported Outcomes |
Volume | 4 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Dec 1 2020 |
Keywords
- Cancer
- Head and neck neoplasms
- Patient reported outcome measures
- QOL
- Quality-of-life
- RT
- Radiation oncology
- Radiation therapy
- Radiotherapy
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Health Informatics
- Health Information Management