Skip to main content

Assessment of clinical and nonclinical characteristics associated with health-related quality of life in patients with high-grade gliomas: a feasibility study

Supportive Care in Cancer volume 22, pages 1349–1362 (2014)Cite this article

Abstract

Purpose

Results from several studies suggest that there is value in evaluating the association between nonclinical characteristics of patients and quality of life (QoL), but few studies have focused on brain cancer. The primary goal of this feasibility study was to explore the relationship between clinical factors and nonclinical factors and QoL in brain cancer patients.

Methods

Participants in this cross-sectional study were drawn from two hospital sites. Eligible patients were 18–75 years old with a pathologically confirmed diagnosis of a brain cancer histology and stable disease after treatment. Data were obtained from medical chart review and a self-administered survey consisting of main study variables and two QoL standardized measures. Independent sample t test was used to determine differences between patient factors and QoL measures.

Results

The sample population was comprised of 26 patients with a median age at survey of 57.5 years (range 33–72). Quality of life was adversely associated with younger age, having underage children and living alone. Patients’ meaning of QoL differed by gender, however most patients viewed it as affecting multiple aspects of their lives.

Conclusions

Nonclinical characteristics were significantly associated with QoL more often than clinical characteristics. Identifying these factors may help improve the quality of care for these patients. This effort demonstrates the relevancy and feasibility of conducting a larger scale study to confirm or refute these findings.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Access options

Buy single article

Instant access to the full article PDF.

43,34 €

Price includes VAT (Finland)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Fig. 1

Abbreviations

QoL:

Health-related quality of life

FACT-Br:

Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy for brain tumor patients

FPQLI-C:

Ferrans and Powers Quality of Life Index Cancer

References

  1. Koshy M, Villano JL, Dolecek TA, Howard A, Mahmood U, Chmura SJ, Weichselbaum RR, McCarthy BJ (2012) Improved survival time trends for glioblastoma using the SEER 17 population-based registries. J Neuro-Oncol 107(1):207–212. doi:10.1007/s11060-011-0738-7

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Louis DN, Ohgaki H, Wiestler OD, Cavenee WK, Burger PC, Jouvet A, Scheithauer BW, Kleihues P (2007) The 2007 WHO classification of tumours of the central nervous system. Acta Neuropathol 114(2):97–109. doi:10.1007/s00401-007-0243-4

    PubMed Central  PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Stupp R, Mason WP, van den Bent MJ, Weller M, Fisher B, Taphoorn MJ, Belanger K, Brandes AA, Marosi C, Bogdahn U, Curschmann J, Janzer RC, Ludwin SK, Gorlia T, Allgeier A, Lacombe D, Cairncross JG, Eisenhauer E, Mirimanoff RO (2005) Radiotherapy plus concomitant and adjuvant temozolomide for glioblastoma. N Engl J Med 352(10):987–996. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa043330

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Fox SW, Lyon D, Farace E (2007) Symptom clusters in patients with high-grade glioma. J Nurs Scholarsh Off Publ Sigma Theta Tau Int Honor Soc Nurs Sigma Theta Tau 39(1):61–67

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Taphoorn MJ, Stupp R, Coens C, Osoba D, Kortmann R, van den Bent MJ, Mason W, Mirimanoff RO, Baumert BG, Eisenhauer E, Forsyth P, Bottomley A (2005) Health-related quality of life in patients with glioblastoma: a randomised controlled trial. Lancet Oncol 6(12):937–944. doi:10.1016/S1470-2045(05)70432-0

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Matsuda T, Aptel I, Exbrayat C, Grosclaude P (2003) Determinants of quality of life of bladder cancer survivors five years after treatment in France. Int J Urol Off J Jpn Urol Assoc 10(8):423–429

    Google Scholar 

  7. Sehlen S, Hollenhorst H, Lenk M, Schymura B, Herschbach P, Aydemir U, Duhmke E (2002) Only sociodemographic variables predict quality of life after radiography in patients with head-and-neck cancer. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 52(3):779–783

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Dapueto JJ, Servente L, Francolino C, Hahn EA (2005) Determinants of quality of life in patients with cancer. Cancer 103(5):1072–1081. doi:10.1002/cncr.20870

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Giovagnoli AR, Tamburini M, Boiardi A (1996) Quality of life in brain tumor patients. J Neuro-Oncol 30(1):71–80

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Weitzner MA, Meyers CA, Byrne K (1996) Psychosocial functioning and quality of life in patients with primary brain tumors. J Neurosurg 84(1):29–34. doi:10.3171/jns.1996.84.1.0029

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Weitzner MA, Meyers CA, Gelke CK, Byrne KS, Cella DF, Levin VA (1995) The Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy (FACT) scale. Development of a brain subscale and revalidation of the general version (FACT-G) in patients with primary brain tumors. Cancer 75(5):1151–1161

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Ferrans CE (1990) Development of a quality of life index for patients with cancer. Oncol Nurs Forum 17(3 Suppl):15–19, discussion 20-11

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Cella D, Hernandez L, Bonomi AE, Corona M, Vaquero M, Shiomoto G, Baez L (1998) Spanish language translation and initial validation of the functional assessment of cancer therapy quality-of-life instrument. Med Care 36(9):1407–1418

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Mezzich JE, Ruiperez MA, Perez C, Yoon G, Liu J, Mahmud S (2000) The Spanish version of the quality of life index: presentation and validation. J Nerv Mental Dis 188(5):301–305

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Ferrans CE (2005) Quality of life as an outcome of cancer care, 6th edn, Cancer Nursing: Principles and Practice. Jones and Bartlett, Sudbury

    Google Scholar 

  16. Nunnally J (1978) Psychometric theory, 2nd edn. McGraw-Hill, New York

    Google Scholar 

  17. Bhat SR, Goodwin TL, Burwinkle TM, Lansdale MF, Dahl GV, Huhn SL, Gibbs IC, Donaldson SS, Rosenblum RK, Varni JW, Fisher PG (2005) Profile of daily life in children with brain tumors: an assessment of health-related quality of life. J Clin Oncol Off J Am Soc Clin Oncol 23(24):5493–5500. doi:10.1200/JCO.2005.10.190

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Brown PD, Ballman KV, Rummans TA, Maurer MJ, Sloan JA, Boeve BF, Gupta L, Tang-Wai DF, Arusell RM, Clark MM, Buckner JC (2006) Prospective study of quality of life in adults with newly diagnosed high-grade gliomas. J Neuro-Oncol 76(3):283–291. doi:10.1007/s11060-005-7020-9

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Guner P, Isikhan V, Komurcu S, Il S, Ozturk B, Arpaci F, Ozet A (2006) Quality of life and sociodemographic characteristics of patients with cancer in Turkey. Oncol Nurs Forum 33(6):1171–1176. doi:10.1188/06.ONF.1171-1176

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Glantz MJ, Chamberlain MC, Liu Q, Hsieh CC, Edwards KR, Van Horn A, Recht L (2009) Gender disparity in the rate of partner abandonment in patients with serious medical illness. Cancer 115(22):5237–5242. doi:10.1002/cncr.24577

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Salonen P, Kellokumpu-Lehtinen PL, Tarkka MT, Koivisto AM, Kaunonen M (2011) Changes in quality of life in patients with breast cancer. J Clin Nurs 20(1–2):255–266. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2702.2010.03422.x

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Pandey M, Thomas BC, SreeRekha P, Ramdas K, Ratheesan K, Parameswaran S, Mathew BS, Rajan B (2005) Quality of life determinants in women with breast cancer undergoing treatment with curative intent. World J Surg Oncol 3:63. doi:10.1186/1477-7819-3-63

    PubMed Central  PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Giovagnoli AR (1999) Quality of life in patients with stable disease after surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy for malignant brain tumour. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 67(3):358–363

    PubMed Central  PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Remer S, Murphy ME (2004) The challenges of long-term treatment outcomes in adults with malignant gliomas. Clin J Oncol Nurs 8(4):368–376. doi:10.1188/04.CJON.368-376

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Hahn CA, Dunn RH, Logue PE, King JH, Edwards CL, Halperin EC (2003) Prospective study of neuropsychologic testing and quality-of-life assessment of adults with primary malignant brain tumors. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 55(4):992–999

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. Klein M, Taphoorn MJ, Heimans JJ, van der Ploeg HM, Vandertop WP, Smit EF, Leenstra S, Tulleken CA, Boogerd W, Belderbos JS, Cleijne W, Aaronson NK (2001) Neurobehavioral status and health-related quality of life in newly diagnosed high-grade glioma patients. J Clin Oncol Off J Am Soc Clin Oncol 19(20):4037–4047

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Salo J, Niemela A, Joukamaa M, Koivukangas J (2002) Effect of brain tumour laterality on patients’ perceived quality of life. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 72(3):373–377

    PubMed Central  PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. Fang FM, Tsai WL, Lee TF, Liao KC, Chen HC, Hsu HC (2010) Multivariate analysis of quality of life outcome for nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients after treatment. Radiother Oncol J Eur Soc Ther Radiol Oncol 97(2):263–269. doi:10.1016/j.radonc.2010.05.022

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Penson DF, Stoddard ML, Pasta DJ, Lubeck DP, Flanders SC, Litwin MS (2001) The association between socioeconomic status, health insurance coverage, and quality of life in men with prostate cancer. J Clin Epidemiol 54(4):350–358

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  30. Cheng JX, Zhang X, Liu BL (2009) Health-related quality of life in patients with high-grade glioma. Neuro-Oncol 11(1):41–50. doi:10.1215/15228517-2008-050

    PubMed Central  PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The authors sincerely thank the patients and their families for their participation. We thank the medical and research staff for their assistance, particularly Nina Paleologos, MD; Ayman Omar, MD; Patricia Lada, RN; Mara Motley; Christina Papirnik; and Candice Zahora, RHIA. The authors would also like to thank Bridget J. McCarthy, PhD for her contributions to the development of this study.

Usha Menon is currently at the College of Nursing, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210. John L. Villano is currently at the Division of Medical Oncology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506. Faith G. Davis is currently at the Department of Public Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Alberta, Edmonton AB T6G 1C9.

Funding

Kimberly R. Porter was supported by a National Cancer Institute pre-doctoral fellowship through the cancer prevention and control training grant at the University of Illinois at Chicago (2 R25 CA057699, co-Is Davis, FG and Fitzgibbon, ML).

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Disclosures

None.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Kimberly R. Porter

    Present address: Department of Research and Evaluation, Kaiser Permanente Southern California, 100 South Los Robles, 2nd Fl, Pasadena, CA, 91101, USA

Affiliations

  1. Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, 60612, USA

    Kimberly R. Porter, Michael L. Berbaum & Faith G. Davis

  2. College of Nursing and Health Innovation, Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ, 85004, USA

    Usha Menon

  3. Neurology, NorthShore University HealthSystem, Evanston, IL, 60201, USA

    Nicholas A. Vick

  4. Department of Medicine, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, 60612, USA

    John L. Villano

Authors
  1. Kimberly R. Porter
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Usha Menon
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Nicholas A. Vick
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. John L. Villano
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Michael L. Berbaum
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Faith G. Davis
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kimberly R. Porter.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Porter, K.R., Menon, U., Vick, N.A. et al. Assessment of clinical and nonclinical characteristics associated with health-related quality of life in patients with high-grade gliomas: a feasibility study. Support Care Cancer 22, 1349–1362 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-013-2093-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-013-2093-z

Keywords

  • High-grade gliomas
  • Health-related quality of life
  • Sociodemographics
  • Perceptions/beliefs
  • Adults