MEASURING QUALITY-OF-LIFE IN MEN WITH PROSTATE-CANCER USING THE FUNCTIONAL ASSESSMENT OF CANCER-THERAPY PROSTATE INSTRUMENT

Objectives. As the incidence of prostate cancer in the United States e xceeds 330,000 in 1997, increasingly more men are faced with treatment choices for which there is no clear approach. At every stage of disea se, these treatment choices may involve clinically equivalent modaliti es that differ in side effects and impact upon quality of life (QOL). Comprehensive, yet efficient, questionnaires are needed to measure QOL in patients with prostate cancer. Methods, Developed as a disease-spe cific adjunct to the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy (FACT) me asurement system, a 12-item prostate cancer subscale (PCS) was develop ed and tested in three independent samples: a subscale development sam ple (n = 43), validity sample 1 (n = 34), and validity sample 2(n = 96 ). The 12 items ask about symptoms and problems specific to prostate c ancer. These questions are added to the general (FACT-G) instrument, t hereby comprising a 47-item questionnaire, Results, Internal consisten cy of the PCS ranged from 0.65 to 0.69, with coefficients for FACT-G s ubscales and aggregated scores ranging from 0.61 to 0.90. Concurrent v alidity was confirmed by the ability to discriminate patients by disea se stage, performance status, and baseline prostate-specific antigen ( PSA) level. Sensitivity to change in performance status and PSA score over a 2-month period suggested that some subscales of the FACT-Prosta te (P) (including the PCS) are sensitive to meaningful clinical change . Conclusions. Our findings support use of the FACT-P as a meaningful component of QOL evaluation in men undergoing therapy for prostate can cer. (C) 1997, Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.