Thresholds for clinical importance were established to improve interpretation of the EORTC QLQ-C30 in clinical practice and research

Johannes M Giesinger; Fanny L C Loth; Neil K Aaronson; Juan I Arraras; Giovanni Caocci; Fabio Efficace; Mogens Groenvold; Marieke van Leeuwen; Morten Aa Petersen; John Ramage; Krzysztof A Tomaszewski; Teresa Young; Bernhard Holzner

doi:10.1016/j.jclinepi.2019.10.003

Thresholds for clinical importance were established to improve interpretation of the EORTC QLQ-C30 in clinical practice and research

Johannes M Giesinger, Fanny L C Loth, Neil K Aaronson, Juan I Arraras, Giovanni Caocci, Fabio Efficace, Mogens Groenvold, Marieke van Leeuwen, Morten Aa Petersen, John Ramage, Krzysztof A Tomaszewski, Teresa Young, Bernhard Holzner

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to establish thresholds for clinical importance (TCIs) for the five functioning and nine symptom scales of the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire Core 30 (EORTC QLQ-C30).

STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: In this diagnostic study, cancer patients with mixed diagnoses and treatments completed the EORTC QLQ-C30 and anchored the questions in each domain in terms of their clinical importance. The anchor questions, concerned limitations in daily life, need for help/care, and the worries of the patient and his/her partner/family. These questions allowed categorizing patients into whether they exhibited a clinically important symptom/functional impairment for each scale and performing a receiver operating characteristic curve analysis to establish TCIs.

RESULTS: Data from 498 patients from six European countries (mean age 60.4 years, 55.2% women) were analyzed. For the TCIs generated using the patient questionnaire data, the EORTC QLQ-C30 scales showed sensitivity values between 0.71 and 0.97 and specificity values between 0.62 and 0.92 (area under the curve above 0.80 for all scales).

CONCLUSION: This EORTC Quality of Life Group study provides TCIs for the functioning and symptom scales of the EORTC QLQ-C30. These TCIs can increase the interpretability of the questionnaire results and foster its use in daily clinical practice and in clinical research.

Original language	English
Journal	Journal of Clinical Epidemiology
Volume	118
Pages (from-to)	1-8
Number of pages	8
ISSN	0895-4356
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclinepi.2019.10.003
Publication status	Published - 1 Feb 2020

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Giesinger, J. M., Loth, F. L. C., Aaronson, N. K., Arraras, J. I., Caocci, G., Efficace, F., Groenvold, M., van Leeuwen, M., Petersen, M. A., Ramage, J., Tomaszewski, K. A., Young, T., & Holzner, B. (2020). Thresholds for clinical importance were established to improve interpretation of the EORTC QLQ-C30 in clinical practice and research. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 118, 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclinepi.2019.10.003

Giesinger, JM, Loth, FLC, Aaronson, NK, Arraras, JI, Caocci, G, Efficace, F, Groenvold, M, van Leeuwen, M, Petersen, MA, Ramage, J, Tomaszewski, KA, Young, T & Holzner, B 2020, 'Thresholds for clinical importance were established to improve interpretation of the EORTC QLQ-C30 in clinical practice and research', Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, vol. 118, pp. 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclinepi.2019.10.003

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title = "Thresholds for clinical importance were established to improve interpretation of the EORTC QLQ-C30 in clinical practice and research",

abstract = "OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to establish thresholds for clinical importance (TCIs) for the five functioning and nine symptom scales of the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire Core 30 (EORTC QLQ-C30).STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: In this diagnostic study, cancer patients with mixed diagnoses and treatments completed the EORTC QLQ-C30 and anchored the questions in each domain in terms of their clinical importance. The anchor questions, concerned limitations in daily life, need for help/care, and the worries of the patient and his/her partner/family. These questions allowed categorizing patients into whether they exhibited a clinically important symptom/functional impairment for each scale and performing a receiver operating characteristic curve analysis to establish TCIs.RESULTS: Data from 498 patients from six European countries (mean age 60.4 years, 55.2% women) were analyzed. For the TCIs generated using the patient questionnaire data, the EORTC QLQ-C30 scales showed sensitivity values between 0.71 and 0.97 and specificity values between 0.62 and 0.92 (area under the curve above 0.80 for all scales).CONCLUSION: This EORTC Quality of Life Group study provides TCIs for the functioning and symptom scales of the EORTC QLQ-C30. These TCIs can increase the interpretability of the questionnaire results and foster its use in daily clinical practice and in clinical research.",

author = "Giesinger, {Johannes M} and Loth, {Fanny L C} and Aaronson, {Neil K} and Arraras, {Juan I} and Giovanni Caocci and Fabio Efficace and Mogens Groenvold and {van Leeuwen}, Marieke and Petersen, {Morten Aa} and John Ramage and Tomaszewski, {Krzysztof A} and Teresa Young and Bernhard Holzner",

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doi = "10.1016/j.jclinepi.2019.10.003",

language = "English",

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T1 - Thresholds for clinical importance were established to improve interpretation of the EORTC QLQ-C30 in clinical practice and research

AU - Giesinger, Johannes M

AU - Loth, Fanny L C

AU - Aaronson, Neil K

AU - Arraras, Juan I

AU - Caocci, Giovanni

AU - Efficace, Fabio

AU - Groenvold, Mogens

AU - van Leeuwen, Marieke

AU - Petersen, Morten Aa

AU - Ramage, John

AU - Tomaszewski, Krzysztof A

AU - Young, Teresa

AU - Holzner, Bernhard

PY - 2020/2/1

Y1 - 2020/2/1

N2 - OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to establish thresholds for clinical importance (TCIs) for the five functioning and nine symptom scales of the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire Core 30 (EORTC QLQ-C30).STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: In this diagnostic study, cancer patients with mixed diagnoses and treatments completed the EORTC QLQ-C30 and anchored the questions in each domain in terms of their clinical importance. The anchor questions, concerned limitations in daily life, need for help/care, and the worries of the patient and his/her partner/family. These questions allowed categorizing patients into whether they exhibited a clinically important symptom/functional impairment for each scale and performing a receiver operating characteristic curve analysis to establish TCIs.RESULTS: Data from 498 patients from six European countries (mean age 60.4 years, 55.2% women) were analyzed. For the TCIs generated using the patient questionnaire data, the EORTC QLQ-C30 scales showed sensitivity values between 0.71 and 0.97 and specificity values between 0.62 and 0.92 (area under the curve above 0.80 for all scales).CONCLUSION: This EORTC Quality of Life Group study provides TCIs for the functioning and symptom scales of the EORTC QLQ-C30. These TCIs can increase the interpretability of the questionnaire results and foster its use in daily clinical practice and in clinical research.

AB - OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to establish thresholds for clinical importance (TCIs) for the five functioning and nine symptom scales of the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire Core 30 (EORTC QLQ-C30).STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: In this diagnostic study, cancer patients with mixed diagnoses and treatments completed the EORTC QLQ-C30 and anchored the questions in each domain in terms of their clinical importance. The anchor questions, concerned limitations in daily life, need for help/care, and the worries of the patient and his/her partner/family. These questions allowed categorizing patients into whether they exhibited a clinically important symptom/functional impairment for each scale and performing a receiver operating characteristic curve analysis to establish TCIs.RESULTS: Data from 498 patients from six European countries (mean age 60.4 years, 55.2% women) were analyzed. For the TCIs generated using the patient questionnaire data, the EORTC QLQ-C30 scales showed sensitivity values between 0.71 and 0.97 and specificity values between 0.62 and 0.92 (area under the curve above 0.80 for all scales).CONCLUSION: This EORTC Quality of Life Group study provides TCIs for the functioning and symptom scales of the EORTC QLQ-C30. These TCIs can increase the interpretability of the questionnaire results and foster its use in daily clinical practice and in clinical research.

U2 - 10.1016/j.jclinepi.2019.10.003

DO - 10.1016/j.jclinepi.2019.10.003

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 31639445

SN - 0895-4356

VL - 118

SP - 1

EP - 8

JO - Journal of Clinical Epidemiology

JF - Journal of Clinical Epidemiology

ER -

Thresholds for clinical importance were established to improve interpretation of the EORTC QLQ-C30 in clinical practice and research

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