(UroToday.com) The 2023 ASCO annual meeting included a kidney cancer session, featuring a presentation by Dr. Cristiane Bergerot discussing health-related quality of life measures in RCC, including patient-reported relevance of items of the FKSI-19, EORTC QLQ-C30, and EQ-5D. Given the need to balance both quantity and quality of life among patients with advanced cancer, developing a robust, relevant, and consensus-driven patient-focused measurement strategy is a necessity. This study expands on previous findings from Dr. Bergerot and colleagues1 in evaluating the perceived relevance of questions on the FKSI-19, EORTC QLQ-C30, and EQ-5D among patients with RCC.
Eligible patients were diagnosed with RCC and asked to evaluate the relevance of each question of the FKSI-19, EORTC QLQ-C30, and EQ-5D (items rated as relevant vs non-relevant). Patients also responded to two open-ended questions regarding topics not covered by these measures and their perception of wearable technologies. Questions identified as meaningful required ≥66% “relevant” ratings. Descriptive statistics were collated, and open-ended questions were analyzed by two independent reviewers.
There were 147 patients recruited from Brazil, the US, and the UK. Most (69.4%) patients were male with a median age of 64 (32-88) years. Additionally, 79.6% were diagnosed with advanced disease, and 75% received immunotherapy and/or targeted therapy as primary treatment. The baseline characteristics are as follows:
Few items across surveys were identified as meaningful including 8/19 FKSI-19 questions (lack of energy, fatigue, appetite, sleeping, worry, ability to work, enjoyment, and quality of life), 3/30 EORTC QLQ-C30 questions (tired, overall health and quality of life), and 0/5 EQ-5D questions. The following figures summarize the relevance of FKSI-19, EORTC QLQ-C30, and EQ-5D in patients with localized and metastatic disease:
Importantly, patient suggested items pertaining to treatment side effects, emotional symptoms, physical function, social/family support, and financial distress should be included:
Notably, 58% of patients were open to using wearable devices to assess HRQOL.
Dr. Bergerot concluded her presentation by discussing health-related quality of life measures in RCC, including patient-reported relevance of items of the FKSI-19, EORTC QLQ-C30, and EQ-5D with the following take-home messages:
- This multi-institutional international study confirms findings from our single-institution pilot data suggesting that health related quality of life measures for RCC require substantial refinement
- There are still gaps in capturing crucial information about treatment related side effects and mental health
- These data will inform development of a novel-RCC specific health related quality of life tool in a joint effort between experts and patients
Presented by: Cristiane D. Bergerot, PhD, Centro de Cancer de Brasilia, Instituto Unity de Ensino e Pesquisa, Oncoclinicas, Brasilia, Brazil
Written by: Zachary Klaassen, MD, MSc – Urologic Oncologist, Associate Professor of Urology, Georgia Cancer Center, Augusta University/Medical College of Georgia, @zklaassen_md on Twitter during the 2023 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL, Fri, June 2 – Tues, June 6, 2023.
References:
- Bergerot CD, Malhotra J, Bergerot P, et al. Patients’ Perceptions Regarding the Relevance of Items Contained in the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy Kidney Symptom Index-19. Oncologist. 2023 Mar 14 [Epub ahead of print].