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Quality of life in patients of nasopharyngeal carcinoma: Validation of the Taiwan Chinese version of the EORTC QLQ-C30 and the EORTC QLQ-H&N35

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Abstract

The authors followed the guidelines of translation and pilot testing of the EORTC QLQ-C30 and EORTC-QLQ-H&N35 questionnaires. The questionnaires were given to 50 nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients under active treatment and 50 under follow-up at our institution from November 2000 to June 2001. A retest was conducted 2 weeks after the first interview/form completion for the follow-up group. The intraclass correlation coefficients of the two questionnaires were moderate to high in the follow-up group. Cronbach's α coefficients of all scales of the two questionnaires were ≥ 0.70 except that of cognitive functioning. Correlation of scales measuring similar dimensions of the QLQ-C30 and the SF-36 were moderate to high, while that of the QLQ-H&N35 and the QLQ-C30 and the SF-36 were moderate to low. Patients in the active treatment group had more serious acute problems due to disease and chemotherapy. Patients in the follow-up group had more serious chronic problems due to radiation therapy. We concluded that the Taiwan Chinese version of the EORTC QLQ-C30 and the EORTC QLQ-H&N35 had moderate to high test–retest reliability, high internal consistency in most scales, and could show the expected differences between patients in active treatment and follow-up group.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Public Health and Graduate Institute of Preventive Medicine, College of Public Health, National Taiwan University, Taiwan

    W.-C. Chie & C.-C. Lai

  2. Department of Oncology, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taiwan

    R.-L. Hong

  3. Department of Radiotherapy, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taiwan

    L.-L. Ting

  4. Department of Otorhinol-aryngology, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taiwan

    M.-M. Hsu

Authors
  1. W.-C. Chie
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  2. R.-L. Hong
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  3. C.-C. Lai
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  4. L.-L. Ting
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  5. M.-M. Hsu
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Chie, WC., Hong, RL., Lai, CC. et al. Quality of life in patients of nasopharyngeal carcinoma: Validation of the Taiwan Chinese version of the EORTC QLQ-C30 and the EORTC QLQ-H&N35. Qual Life Res 12, 93–98 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1022070220328

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