Association between changes in quality of life scores and survival in non-small cell lung cancer patients.

In patients with advanced cancer, quality of life is as meaningful to patients as the actual length of life. We investigated whether changes in quality of life could predict survival in non-small cell lung cancer. Quality of life was evaluated using EORTC QLQ-C30 (European Organisation for the Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire). Cox regression evaluated the prognostic significance of baseline, 3-month and changes in quality of life scores after adjusting for age, gender, treatment history and stage. Two hundred and seventeen patients were men and 213 women. One hundred and fifty-nine patients had stage III while 271 had stage IV disease. Baseline quality of life scales predictive of survival upon multivariate analysis were physical (hazard ratio, 0.90; 95% confidence interval, 0.81-0.98; P= 0.02) and global (hazard ratio, 0.92; 95% confidence interval, 0.87-0.96; P < 0.001). On multivariate analysis, no change variables were significantly predictive of survival. However, in stage IV patients, change in physical function over a period of 3 months showed marginal significance such that every 10-point increase in physical function change score was associated with an 8% decreased risk of death. These findings should be used in clinical practice to systematically address quality of life-related problems of lung cancer patients throughout their treatment course.