Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, 624 N. Broadway, Room 657, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA.
Qual Life Res. 2009 Oct;18(8):991-8. doi: 10.1007/s11136-009-9519-6. Epub 2009 Aug 6.
Although patients' function, symptoms, and supportive care needs are obviously related, a better understanding of these relationships could improve patient management.
In this cross-sectional, observational study, 117 cancer patients completed the Supportive Care Needs Survey-34 and EORTC-QLQ-C30. Each symptom and function domain from the EORTC-QLQ-C30 was dichotomized (high vs. low) using a cut-off of reference sample mean scores. Each need domain was dichotomized using a cut-off of an average score representing an unmet need. We explored within-patient patterns of function, symptom, and need domains using latent class analysis. Based on these patterns, patients were categorized as high versus low function; high versus low symptom; and high versus low need. We examined the concordance between categorizations of patients' function, symptoms, and needs.
The categorizations of function, symptoms, and needs were concordant for 66 patients (56%). Among patients with deficits in at least one area (n = 68), categorizations for 51 patients (75%) were discordant.
About 50% of patients have similar classifications of their level of function, symptoms, and needs, but discordance was common among patients with deficits in at least one area, emphasizing the importance of assessing all of these outcomes as part of patient evaluations.
尽管患者的功能、症状和支持性护理需求显然是相关的，但对这些关系的更好理解可以改善患者的管理。
在这项横断面、观察性研究中，117 名癌症患者完成了支持性护理需求调查-34 和 EORTC-QLQ-C30。EORTC-QLQ-C30 的每个症状和功能域都使用参考样本平均得分的截止值进行二分法（高与低）。每个需求域都使用代表未满足需求的平均得分的截止值进行二分法。我们使用潜在类别分析探索了功能、症状和需求域内的患者模式。基于这些模式，患者被分为高功能与低功能；高症状与低症状；高需求与低需求。我们检查了患者功能、症状和需求分类之间的一致性。
对于 66 名患者（56%），功能、症状和需求的分类是一致的。在至少一个领域存在缺陷的 68 名患者中（n=68），51 名患者（75%）的分类不一致。
约 50%的患者在他们的功能、症状和需求水平上具有相似的分类，但在至少一个领域存在缺陷的患者中，分类不一致是常见的，这强调了评估所有这些结果作为患者评估的一部分的重要性。
