THE IMPACT OF POSTCHEMOTHERAPY NAUSEA AND VOMITING ON QUALITY-OF-LIFEAFTER MODERATELY EMETOGENIC CHEMOTHERAPY

The purpose of the study was to assess the impact of postchemotherapy nausea and vomiting (PCNV) after moderately emetogenic chemotherapy on health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in patients with cancer being treated in a routine clinical practice setting. The European Organizat ion for Research and Treatment in Cancer (EORTC) Quality of Life Quest ionnaire (QLQ-C30) was administered on day 2 and day 6 following moder ately emetogenic chemotherapy to 119 patients with a variety of cancer s. Patients kept daily diaries to record the occurrence and severity o f nausea and vomiting. The QLQ-C30 questions were modified, for this s tudy only, to assess the impact of nausea and vomiting on HRQOL in pat ients who experienced nausea and/or vomiting during the six days follo wing chemotherapy. Those patients who experienced either nausea or vom iting experienced a decrease in HRQOL from pre-chemotherapy levels on six functioning and five symptom scales at day 2, and on four function ing and four symptom scales on day 6. Comparison of mean scores betwee n the unmodified QLQ-C30 and the nausea and vomiting versions demonstr ated that the HRQOL rating attributed to nausea and vomiting accounted for much, but not all, of the deterioration in HRQOL scores in patien ts who experienced these symptoms. It can be concluded that patients w ho experience PCNV experience a significant negative impact on their H RQOL and that this impact can be attributed in large part to their exp erience of nausea and vomiting. However, since not all of the deterior ation is attributable to these symptoms, other reasons for some of the decrease in HRQOL must also be identified in future studies.