EVALUATION OF THE EORTC QLQ-C30 QUESTIONNAIRE - A COMPARISON WITH SF-36 HEALTH SURVEY IN A COHORT OF ITALIAN LONG-SURVIVAL CANCER-PATIENTS

Background: Despite the large amount of data available about the EORTC QLQ-C30 questionnaire, there have been very few studies focussed on l ong-survival cancer patients, and no data are available on its perform ance in the Italian setting. Patients and il?methods. Within the frame work of a project aimed at evaluating the characteristics of available HR-QOL questionnaires in the Italian language, the EORTC QLQ-C30 ques tionnaire together with the Short Form 36-item Health Survey (SF-36) w ere mail-administered to a sample of patients previously recruited in two large multicenter randomized clinical trials on early breast and c olon cancers. The properties of the questionnaire were evaluated using standard psychometric techniques and correlation analyses with demogr aphic and clinical independent variables. Results. In the sample of pa tients who sent back the questionnaires under evaluation, the EORTC QL Q-C30 showed satisfactory acceptability (response rate = 64% and very low prevalence of missing at item and scale level), and the psychometr ic analyses confirmed the multi-dimensional conceptualisation in terms of convergent and discriminant validity. Moreover, EORTC QLQ-C30 scal es showed substantial correlation with the homologous SF-36 scales. Fe w socio-demographic (age, gender, schooling) and clinical (type of can cer disease) variables were associated with HR-QOL. Breast cancer pati ents reported, on average: worse physical health-related scores, but a fter adjustment for age and education, most of the differences disappe ared. Conclusions: These findings confirm the validity and robustness of the EORTC QLQ-C30 in this sample of long-survival Italian cancer pa tients. Further ad hoc validation studies are required to evaluate its significance in these particular patients.