Health-related quality of life in childhood cancer: Discrepancy in parent-child reports

The purpose of our study was to describe reports of parents and of children with cancer on items taken from 4 domains of health-related quality of lif e (HRQL), bodily pain/distress, general health perceptions, physical functi oning and limitations in role/social functioning as a result of physical he alth, and to examine whether differences in parent-child reports varied as a function of the child's health condition (cancer vs. healthy). Twenty-sev en child-parent dyads with cancer and 27 child-parent dyads who were health y (child ages 8 to 18 inclusive) completed measures of child HRQL [Child He alth Questionnaire-Parent Form (CHQ-PF50) and Child Health Questionnaire (C HQ-CF87)] and demographic information at a scheduled out-patient general pe diatric or pediatric oncology clinic appointment. Sixteen items included on both the CHQ-CF87 and CHQ-PF50 were examined to compare parent and child r eports of child HRQL. As hypothesized, greater discrepancies were evident i n the reports of parents of children with cancer than parents of children w ho are healthy [F(16,31) = 3.98, p < 0.0001]. Statistically significant dis crepancies emerged in parent and child responses on 50% of the items in the sample of children with cancer, with parents reporting that their children experience more limitations in their lives than did the children themselve s. In the healthy group, statistically significant discrepancies emerged on only 1 of the 16 items (6.3%). Int. J. Cancer Suppl. 12:58-64, 1999, (C) 1 999 Wiley-Liss, Inc.