Musoro, JZ, Coens, C, Frederic, F et al. (9 more authors) (2019) Minimally important differences for interpreting EORTC QLQ-C30 scores in patients with advanced breast cancer. JNCI: Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 3 (3). pkz037. ISSN 0027-8874
Abstract
Background
We aimed to estimate the minimally important difference (MID) for interpreting group-level change over time, both within a group and between groups, for European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire core 30 (EORTC QLQ-C30) scores in patients with advanced breast cancer.
Patients and Methods
Data were derived from two published EORTC trials. Clinical anchors, e.g. performance status, were selected using correlation strength and clinical plausibility of their association with a particular QLQ-C30 scale. Three change status groups were formed: deteriorated by one anchor category, improved by one anchor category and no change. Patients with greater anchor changes were excluded. The mean change method was used to estimate MIDs for within-group change and linear regression was used to estimate MIDs for between-group differences in change over time. For a given QLQ-C30 scale, MID estimates from multiple anchors were triangulated to a single value via a correlation-based weighted average.
Results
MIDs varied by QLQ-C30 scale, direction (improvement versus deterioration) and anchor. MIDs for within-group change ranged from 5 to 14 points (improvement) and –14 to –4 points (deterioration), and MIDs for between-group change over time ranged from 4 to 11 points and from –18 to –4 points. Correlation-weighted MIDs for most QLQ-C30 scales ranged from 4 to 10 points in absolute values.
Conclusions
Our findings aid interpretation of changes in EORTC QLQ-C30 scores over time, both within and between groups, and for performing more accurate sample size calculations for clinical trials in advanced breast cancer.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © The Author(s) 2019. Published by Oxford University Press. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. For commercial re-use, please contact journals.permissions@oup.com |
Keywords: | Health-related quality of life (HRQOL); EORTC QLQ-C30; Minimally important difference (MID); Advanced Breast cancer |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Medicine and Health (Leeds) > School of Medicine (Leeds) > Leeds Institute of Cancer and Pathology (LICAP) > Patient Centred Outcomes Research |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 28 Jun 2019 11:21 |
Last Modified: | 25 Jun 2023 21:53 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Oxford University Press |
Identification Number: | 10.1093/jncics/pkz037 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:147903 |