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EuroQol and survival prediction in terminal cancer patients: a multicenter prospective study in hospice-palliative care units

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Abstract

Goals of work

Although the EuroQol (EQ-5D) is widely used for economic evaluation, it remains unclear whether it can be combined with medical data to predict survival in patients with terminal cancer.

Patients and methods

We carried out this prospective study on 142 terminal cancer patients in four hospice-palliative care units. Association was sought between survival time and a range of variables such as cancer site, performance, previous treatment, age, sex, pain, and EuroQol. The EQ-5D was transformed into the corresponding EQ-5D utility. For univariate analysis, we estimated differences in survival with the Gehan generalized Wilcoxon test. For those variables that were significant, we performed multivariate analysis using the Cox proportional hazard model.

Main results

Univariate analysis showed that sex, age, performance, previous use of chemotherapy, and the EQ-5D utility provided statistically significant prognostic survival information. The median survival time was 13.0 days for the group with an EQ-5D utility score lower than −0.5 and 21.0 days for the group with an EQ-5D utility score above −0.5. In multivariate analysis with the Cox proportional hazard model, an EQ-5D utility score ≤0.5 (RR 1.57, 95% confidence interval 1.06–2.33) was an independent negative predictor of survival.

Conclusions

The EQ-5D quality-of-life assessment tool might be useful for predicting survival time for terminal cancer patients.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by National Cancer Center Grant N0110020-3.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Quality of Cancer Care Branch, Research Institute and Hospital, National Cancer Center, 809 Madu-dong, Ilsan-gu, Goyang, Gyeonggi, 411-769, South Korea

    Sang Min Park & Young Ho Yun

  2. Hospice Department, Kangnam St. Mary’s Hospital, Seoul, South Korea

    Myung Hee Park

  3. Saemmul Hospice, Seoul, South Korea

    Joo Hee Won

  4. Department of Severance Hospice, Seoul, South Korea

    Kyoung Ok Lee

  5. The Graduate School of Clinical Health Science, Ewha Woman’s University, Seoul, South Korea

    Wha Sook Choe

  6. Department of Internal Medicine, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, South Korea

    Dae Seog Heo

  7. Department of Internal Medicine, Kyunghee University Hospital, Seoul, South Korea

    Si-Young Kim

  8. Department of Internal Medicine, The Catholic University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea

    Kyung Sik Lee

Authors
  1. Sang Min Park
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  2. Myung Hee Park
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  3. Joo Hee Won
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  4. Kyoung Ok Lee
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  5. Wha Sook Choe
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  6. Dae Seog Heo
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  8. Kyung Sik Lee
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  9. Young Ho Yun
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Young Ho Yun.

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Park, S.M., Park, M.H., Won, J.H. et al. EuroQol and survival prediction in terminal cancer patients: a multicenter prospective study in hospice-palliative care units. Support Care Cancer 14, 329–333 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-005-0889-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-005-0889-1

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