Health-Related Quality of Life Issues Experienced by Thoracic and Breast Sarcoma Patients: A Rare and Understudied Group
Thoracic and breast sarcomas constitute a rare subgroup within the sarcoma population. There is limited knowledge about their health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and a valid disease-specific HRQoL instrument is lacking. This qualitative study aimed to investigate the HRQoL issues experienced by a small group of thoracic and breast sarcoma patients. Semi-structured interviews with 19 thoracic and four breast sarcoma patients were conducted and thematically analysed. Physical issues mentioned by both groups were fatigue, sleep disturbances, pain, wound infections, and symptoms related to chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Tightness in the back and restrictions in performing tasks above arm hei…
Systematic review of the health-related quality of life issues facing adolescents and young adults with cancer
Contains fulltext : 174665.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access) PURPOSE: For adolescents and young adults (AYAs), the impact of a cancer diagnosis and subsequent treatment is likely to be distinct from other age groups given the unique and complex psychosocial challenges of this developmental phase. In this review of the literature, we report the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) issues experienced by AYAs diagnosed with cancer and undergoing treatment. METHODS: MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, PsychINFO and the Cochrane Library Databases were searched for publications reporting HRQoL of AYAs. Issues generated from interviews with AYAs or from responses to patient reported outcome measures…
Does age matter?: A comparison of health‐related quality of life issues of adolescents and young adults with cancer
Objective:Health‐related quality of life (HRQoL) concerns of adolescents and young adults (AYAs) aged 14–25 years were compared with those of older adults (26–60 years) with cancer.Methods:AYAs and older adults receiving curative intent treatment or supportive palliative care for cancer were recruited from eight research centres across Europe. Participants used a rating scale to score the relevance and importance of a list of 77 issues covering 10 areas of HRQoL concern: symptoms; activity restrictions; social; emotional; body image; self‐appraisals; outlook on life; lifestyle; treatment‐related and life beyond treatment.Results:HRQoL issues were reviewed by 33 AYAs and 25 older adults. Sev…
Quality of Life in Patients With Hypoparathyroidism After Treatment for Thyroid Cancer.
Abstract Purpose Surgical complications such as hypoparathyroidism (HPT) or vocal cord palsy are seldom assessed when the quality of life (QOL) in thyroid cancer patients is investigated. The aim of this study was to measure the QOL difference in thyroid cancer survivors with and without HPT. Methods Participants for this analysis were enrolled in 13 countries from a study that pilot-tested a thyroid cancer–specific QOL instrument. They were included if they had been diagnosed with thyroid cancer at least 9 months previously. QOL was measured using the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire Core (EORTC QLQ-C30) and some items on HPT symptoms…
Unravelling the heterogeneity of soft tissue and bone sarcoma patients’ health-related quality of life: a systematic literature review with focus on tumour location
Contains fulltext : 229532.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access) Patients with sarcoma experience many physical and psychological symptoms, adversely affecting their health-related quality of life (HRQoL). HRQoL assessment is challenging due to the diversity of the disease. This review aims to unravel the heterogeneity of HRQoL of patients with sarcoma with regard to tumour location and to summarise the used measures in research. English-language literature from four databases published between January 2000 and April 2019 was reviewed. Studies that described adult sarcoma HRQoL outcomes were included and classified according to primary sarcoma location. Eighty-seven articles met the incl…
Quality-of-Life Priorities in Patients with Thyroid Cancer : a Multinational European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Phase I Study
Item does not contain fulltext BACKGROUND: The objectives of this study were to determine quality of life (QoL) issues that are relevant to thyroid cancer patients cross-culturally, and to identify those with highest relevance to them in addition to the more general issues covered by the core European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer QoL questionnaire (EORTC QLQ-C30). METHODS: A systematic literature search provided a list of potentially relevant QoL issues to supplement the core questionnaire EORTC QLQ-C30, which is widely used in research and in care and addresses QoL issues relevant to all groups of cancer patients. A panel of experts revised this list, and thyroid cance…
A life put on pause: an exploration of the health-related quality of life issues relevant to adolescents and young adults with cancer
Purpose: in recent years, the assessment of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) has been recognized as particularly informative to health care providers. For adolescents and young adults (AYAs), the impact of a cancer diagnosis and subsequent treatment is likely to be distinct from other age groups given the unique and complex physical and psychosocial challenges of this developmental phase. The objective of this study was to capture the HRQoL issues described by AYAs with cancer using thematic analysis.Methods: semi-structured interviews were carried out with 45 AYAs aged 14-25 years from 6 countries. Results: the most prevalent cancers presented were leukemia (n=12) and lymphoma (n=8).…
The EORTC module for quality of life in patients with thyroid cancer: phase III
The purpose of the study was to pilot-test a questionnaire measuring health-related quality of life (QoL) in thyroid cancer patients to be used with the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) core questionnaire EORTC QLQ-C30. A provisional questionnaire with 47 items was administered to patients treated for thyroid cancer within the last 2 years. Patients were interviewed about time and help needed to complete the questionnaire, and whether they found the items understandable, confusing or annoying. Items were kept in the questionnaire if they fulfilled pre-defined criteria: relevant to the patients, easy to understand, not confusing, few missing values, neither …