QUALITY-OF-LIFE EVALUATION - WHEN DO TERMINAL CANCER-PATIENTS AND HEALTH-CARE PROVIDERS AGREE

A multicenter study involving six palliative care units in Italy was c arried out on 159 terminal cancer patients seen at home or in hospital . The physician or the nu-se completed independently from the patient the Therapy Impact Questionnaire re (TIQ), a questionnaire devised for quality-of-life evaluation in terminal cancer patients. The patient's assessment was used as the valid reference measurement to compare wit h the health-care workers' evaluation to assess the validity of the la tter. The results showed that percentages of agreement were higher for physical than for psychological and cognitive symptoms, and that ther e runs a greater agreement on the absence rather than on the presence of a problem. None of the characteristics of the patient nor of the pr oxy showed any statistically significant relationship with the two dis agreement indexes. The results suggest that caution is needed in the u se of health-care workers as alternative sources of information regard ing patients quality of life. (C) U.S. Cancer Pain Relief Committee, 1 998.