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Annals of Oncology 6:575-580, 1995
© 1995 European Society for Medical Oncology

research-article

Assessment of 'quality of life' using a daily diary card in a randomised trial of chemotherapy in small-cell lung cancer

N. H. Gower1,2, R. M. Rudd1, M. C.Ruiz de Elvira2, S. G. Spiro3, L. E. James2, P. G. Harper4 and R. L. Souhami2,

1Department of Respiratory Oncology, The London Chest Hospital
2Department of Oncology, University College London Medical School, Middlesex Hospital
3Department of Respiratory Medicine, University College London Hospitals
4Department of Medical Oncology, Guy's Hospital London, U.K.

Correspondence to: Prof. R. L. Souhami, Department of Oncology, University College London Medical School, Middlesex Hospital, London WIN 8AA, U.K.

BACKGROUND: Quality of life (QOL) was assessed using a daily diary card within a multicentre randomised trial of treatment of small-cell lung cancer. The trial compared a weekly dose-intensive regimen with a 3-weekly conventional treatment in good prognosis patients, that is patients with limited disease or extensive disease with a good performance status (ECOG 0 or 1) and alkaline phosphatase of less than one and a half times the upper limit of normal. The trial which has been previously reported detected no difference in response or survival.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: Daily diary cards (DDCs) were collected for up to eight months from the first day of chemotherapy in a cohort of 75 patients at one centre. Percentages of scores over a specified level were calculated for each of the eight diary card questions and comparisons were made between treatment arms.

RESULTS: During the period of chemotherapy compliance in completing DDCs was 72.5% in the weekly arm and 77.2% in the 3 weekly. Significantly worse scores were reported with weekly chemotherapy during this period for six of the eight parameters, namely: nausea, vomiting, happiness, appetite, general well-being and sleep. Recognised problems of QOL data collection, in particular, compliance, attrition and generalisability are highlighted by this study and are discussed in the paper.

CONCLUSIONS: The QOL measurements indicate that 3 weekly chemotherapy is the preferred treatment. This study demonstrates that QOL measurements may be helpful in choosing between treatment alternatives where no difference in outcome is observed.

daily diary card, chemotherapy, compliance, quality of life, randomised trial, small-cell lung cancer


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