Abstract
Our understanding of the biology of neuro-oncologic disease has improved vastly over time, however overall patient survival remains relatively poor. Our goal as clinicians, therefore, should be to ensure that the quality of life (QOL) in that survival time is optimized. Here we review neuro-oncology QOL abstracts presented at major oncology conferences and the published literature to make a quantitative comparison to other common cancer subtypes. First, all abstracts presented at major oncology meetings from 2008 to 2012 were reviewed and filtered to find those related to QOL in CNS, breast, lung, and prostate cancer. Next, a Medline search was performed to identify all QOL papers published from 2003 to 2012 for the same cancer subtypes. The results were compared as absolute values and percentages. The average percentage of CNS QOL-related abstracts presented at ASCO and ASTRO over the last 5 years was 4.9 %, compared to 6.4 % for breast, 4.4 % for lung, and 6.1 % for prostate. There is a significant difference in total percentage of QOL abstracts over the time period when comparing CNS to breast and prostate, but not lung (p < 0.05). The Medline search revealed an average of 25.2 publications per year for CNS cancer, compared to 146.2 for breast, 39.3 for lung, and 64.2 for prostate. When looking at trends over time, publications in CNS cancer have not been as prolific and have not increased as rapidly as publications in breast and lung cancer, indicating that QOL is underrepresented in neuro-oncology research. We need to improve this by standardizing QOL measures and including them in every outcome study.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Liu R et al (2009) Quality of life in adults with brain tumors: current knowledge and future directions. Neuro-oncology 11(3):330–339
Murphy BA et al (2007) Quality of life research in head and neck cancer: a review of the current state of the science. Crit Rev Oncol Hematol 62(3):251–267
Hilden JM et al (1998) Central nervous system atypical teratoid tumor/rhabdoid tumor: response to intensive therapy and review of the literature. J Neurooncol 40(3):265–275
Oya S et al (2011) The natural history of intracranial meningiomas. J Neurosurg 114(5):1250–1256
Stupp R et al (2009) Effects of radiotherapy with concomitant and adjuvant temozolomide versus radiotherapy alone on survival in glioblastoma in a randomised phase III study: 5-year analysis of the EORTC-NCIC trial. Lancet Oncol 10(5):459–466
Sizoo EM et al (2012) Decision-making in the end-of-life phase of high-grade glioma patients. Eur J Cancer 48(2):226–232
Bosma I et al (2009) Health-related quality of life of long-term high-grade glioma survivors. Neuro-oncology 11(1):51–58
Gralla RJ, Griesinger F (2007) Interpreting clinical trials in lung cancer: impact of methodology and endpoints. J Thorac Oncol 2(Suppl 2):S51–S58
Sanders C et al (1998) Reporting on quality of life in randomised controlled trials: bibliographic study. BMJ 317(7167):1191–1194
Pearce NJ, Sanson-Fisher R, Campbell HS (2008) Measuring quality of life in cancer survivors: a methodological review of existing scales. Psycho-oncology 17(7):629–640
Vidhubala E et al (2005) Validation of quality of life questionnaire for patients with cancer: Indian scenario. Indian J Cancer 42(3):138–144
Rosenfelder N, Khoo V (2011) Brain metastases. Clin Evidence 2011
Wong J et al (2008) Quality of life in brain metastases radiation trials: a literature review. Curr Oncol 15(5):25–45
Cella D et al (2002) Advances in quality of life measurements in oncology patients. Semin Oncol 29(3 Suppl 8):60–68
Jacobsen PB, Davis K, Cella D (2002) Assessing quality of life in research and clinical practice. Oncology 16(9 Suppl 10):133–139
Lien K et al (2011) FACT-Br for assessment of quality of life in patients receiving treatment for brain metastases: a literature review. Expert Rev Pharmacoecon Outcomes Res 11(6):701–708
Velikova G, Stark D, Selby P (1999) Quality of life instruments in oncology. Eur J Cancer 35(11):1571–1580
Bahrami M, Arbon P (2012) How do nurses assess quality of life of cancer patients in oncology wards and palliative settings? Eur J Oncol Nurs 16(3):212–219
Bateman E, Keefe D (2011) Patient-reported outcomes in supportive care. Semin Oncol 38(3):358–361
Hagelin CL et al (2007) Nurses’ experiences of clinical use of a quality of life instrument in palliative care. Contemp Nurse 27(1):29–38
King CR (2006) Advances in how clinical nurses can evaluate and improve quality of life for individuals with cancer. Oncol Nurs Forum 33(1 Suppl):5–12
Leung A et al (2011) The EORTC QLQ-BN20 for assessment of quality of life in patients receiving treatment or prophylaxis for brain metastases: a literature review. Expert Rev Pharmacoecon Outcomes Res 11(6):693–700
Popovic M et al (2012) Comparison of the EORTC QLQ-BM22 and the FACT-BP for assessment of quality of life in cancer patients with bone metastases. Expert Rev Pharmacoecon Outcomes Res 12(2):213–219
Salvo N et al (2009) Quality of life measurement in cancer patients receiving palliative radiotherapy for symptomatic lung cancer: a literature review. Curr Oncol 16(2):16–28
Conflict of interest
The authors report no conflict of interest concerning the materials or methods used in this study or the findings specified in this paper.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Klein, E., Altshuler, D., Hallock, A. et al. Quality of life research in neuro-oncology: a quantitative comparison. J Neurooncol 116, 333–340 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11060-013-1299-8
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11060-013-1299-8