SELF-REPORTED COMPREHENSIVE HEALTH-STATUS OF ADULT BRAIN-TUMOR PATIENTS USING THE HEALTH UTILITIES INDEX

BACKGROUND. The comprehensive health status of adult survivors of brai n tumors is largely unexplored. METHODS. Using a multiattribute approa ch embodied in a 15-item self-assessment questionnaire, the overall bu rden of morbidity was measured in 50 brain tumor patients who were att ending a neurooncology outpatient clinic. The comprehensive health sta tus was accorded utility scores, and comparisons were made with health status measurements of the general population. RESULTS. The questionn aire was completed with ease by 90% of the respondents. Among the resp ondents, only 10% of the patients did not report some form of morbidit y, and 80% reported multiple impairments. The most prevalent impairmen ts occurred in the attributes of sensation, emotion, and cognition (in this predominantly ambulant group); each of these elements was limite d in the majority of patients. A surprising finding was the self-repor t of pain by nearly 50% of the respondents. CONCLUSIONS. In this group of patients, the burden of morbidity and its complexity greatly excee ded that reported for the general population and were inadequately rev ealed by Karnofsky performance scores. The use of multiattribute healt h status measurement tools offers numerous advantages and should be em ployed in the routine clinical management of cancer patients. (C) 1997 American Cancer Society.