QUALITY-OF-LIFE SCORES - AN INDEPENDENT PROGNOSTIC VARIABLE IN A GENERAL-POPULATION OF CANCER-PATIENTS RECEIVING CHEMOTHERAPY

This report examines the prognostic associations between QOL scores me asured by the EORTC QLQ-C30 and survival in a large heterogeneous popu lation of cancer patients. Eight hundred and fifty-one cancer patients who were to receive chemotherapy were enrolled in two National Cancer Institute of Canada Clinical Trials Group (NCIC CTG) antiemetic trial s. All patients completed the EORTC QLQ-C30 immediately prior to their first chemotherapy. Survival data were available and obtained for 474 of 639 patients (74%). Cox's proportional hazards model was used to a ssess the independent impact of QOL and demographic variables on survi val. Presence of metastatic disease, diagnosis of lung or ovarian canc er, ECOG performance status, global quality of life and emotional func tioning were significantly associated with survival. Global QOL was pr edictive in all patients, in subgroups of patients with metastatic dis ease, with breast and lung cancer and other tumour types. In patients with low global quality of life scores, patients with low emotional fu nctioning ratings lived longer than did patients with high emotional f unctioning ratings. Patients with high global QOL live significantly l onger than do patients with low global QOL. The relationship between e motional functioning in patients with low global QOL and survival need s confirmation.