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Comparison of the measurement properties between a short and generic instrument, the 5-level EuroQoL Group’s 5-dimension (EQ-5D-5L) questionnaire, and a longer and disease-specific instrument, the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy—Breast (FACT-B), in Asian breast cancer patients

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Abstract

Purpose

To compare the measurement precision and related properties between the 5-level EuroQoL Group’s 5-dimension (EQ-5D-5L) questionnaire and the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy—Breast (FACT-B) questionnaire in assessing breast cancer patients.

Methods

An observational study of 269 Singaporean breast cancer patients. To compare discriminative ability and responsiveness, the effect sizes (in standard deviation) of the EQ-5D-5L and the FACT-B in relation to health indicators and the change in performance status or quality of life were estimated. Test–retest reliability was examined using the intraclass correlation (ICC).

Results

Using performance status, evidence of disease, and treatment status as the criteria, the differences (FACT-B minus EQ-5D-5L) in the effect size for discriminative ability were negative or closed to zero, and the 90 % confidence intervals totally fell within the zone that indicated the non-inferiority of the EQ-5D-5L. For responsiveness and test–retest reliability, the confidence intervals of the differences in effect size and ICC overlapped the non-inferiority margin; thus, non-inferiority in these two aspects could neither be confirmed nor rejected.

Conclusions

The EQ-5D-5L was non-inferior to the FACT-B in discriminating breast cancer patients with different health conditions cross-sectionally. The EQ-5D-5L serves as a reasonable alternative or supplementary instrument to the FACT-B in assessing breast cancer patients’ health outcomes.

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Abbreviations

EQ-5D:

EuroQoL group’s 5-dimension questionnaire

VAS:

Visual analog scale

EQ-5D-3L:

3-level EuroQoL group’s 5-dimension questionnaire

EQ-5D-5L:

5-level EuroQoL group’s 5-dimension questionnaire

FACT-B:

Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy—Breast

QoL:

Quality of life

TOI:

Trial Outcome Index

ICC:

Intraclass correlation

CI:

Confidence interval

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the Singapore Ministry of Health’s National Medical Research Council under its Exploratory/Developmental Grant and Clinician-Scientist Award.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Quantitative Medicine, Office of Clinical Sciences, Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School, Singapore, Singapore

    Chun Fan Lee, Celest Wong & Yin Bun Cheung

  2. Department of Biostatistics, Singapore Clinical Research Institute, 31 Biopolis Way Nanos #02-01, Singapore, 138669, Singapore

    Chun Fan Lee & Yin Bun Cheung

  3. Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

    Nan Luo

  4. Department of Medical Oncology, National Cancer Center, Singapore, Singapore

    Raymond Ng, Nan Soon Wong, Yoon Sim Yap, Soo Kien Lo & Whay Kuang Chia

  5. Department of Palliative Medicine, National Cancer Center, Singapore, Singapore

    Alethea Yee, Lalit Krishna & Cynthia Goh

  6. Department of International Health, University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland

    Yin Bun Cheung

Authors
  1. Chun Fan Lee
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  2. Nan Luo
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  3. Raymond Ng
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  10. Celest Wong
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  11. Cynthia Goh
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Correspondence to Chun Fan Lee.

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Lee, C.F., Luo, N., Ng, R. et al. Comparison of the measurement properties between a short and generic instrument, the 5-level EuroQoL Group’s 5-dimension (EQ-5D-5L) questionnaire, and a longer and disease-specific instrument, the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy—Breast (FACT-B), in Asian breast cancer patients. Qual Life Res 22, 1745–1751 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-012-0291-7

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