RELATIVE CONTRIBUTION OF THE KARNOFSKY PERFORMANCE STATUS SCALE IN A MULTI-MEASURE ASSESSMENT OF QUALITY-OF-LIFE IN CANCER-PATIENTS

The Karnofsky Performance Status (KPS) scale is the most widely used m easure of functional or performance status. While the KPS cannot be us ed as a sole measure of quality of life, some suggestions have been ma de that the KPS can be used as a measure of one component of the quali ty of life construct. However, few data are available supporting the u se of the KPS in such a multi-measure assessment. The current study in vestigated the relation between KPS ratings and a measure of quality o f life as well as measures of domains closely associated with quality of life (e.g. depression, social support). The subjects were 86 male v eteran cancer patients receiving treatment for a first-time cancer. Th e results indicated that the KPS was not significantly correlated with quality of life, social support or depression. KPS ratings were signi ficantly related to education, cancer stage and mortality. Although th e results support the use of the KPS as a measure of functional status , they do not support the use of the KPS as a component of a multi-mea sure assessment of quality of life. Implications and future research d irections are discussed.