Journal Article

Validity of a single-item indicator of treatment side effect bother in patients with head and neck cancer

Mierzwa, Michelle L., Stepan, Katelyn O., Gharzai, Laila A., Peipert, John Devin, Cella, David

2024

Overview

Purpose Patients with head/neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCC) experience significant tumor- and treatment-related side effects. No efficient summary measure capturing the totality of side effect burden currently exists. We examined associations between a single patient-reported outcome (PRO) item evaluating side effect bother (FACT GP5, “I am bothered by side effects of treatment”) with overall side effects in HNSCC. Methods We performed a retrospective secondary analysis of development of the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy (FACT) Head/Neck Symptom Index (FHNSI-10), which included completing FACT-HN (including Head/Neck Cancer Subscale (HNCS) and Trial Outcome Index (TOI)) and the pain intensity numeric rating scale (NRS). We calculated Spearman’s correlations between GP5 and these measures of patient-reported global health, head/neck side effects, and pain intensity NRS. A correlation of > 0.4 was considered sufficient evidence of association. Results Ninety-seven patients completed baseline and 85 completed 3-month follow-up surveys. GP5 was highly correlated with FACT-HN total score (baseline r  = 0.66, 3 months r  = 0.67) and FHNSI-10 (baseline r  = 0.63, 3 months r  = 0.65). GP5 correlated with multiple FACT-HN subscales including FACT-G, physical well-being, functional well-being, HNCS, and TOI (range baseline r  = 0.53–0.77, range 3 months r  = 0.49–0.77). Worsening GP5 score was associated with worsening overall HNCS ( p  = 0.002), worsening FHNSI-10 score ( p  < 0.001), and worsening mean pain intensity ( p  < 0.001). Conclusion GP5 exhibited validity within HNSCC, exhibiting substantial correlations with a number of HNSCC-related PRO measures including FACT-HN and FHNSI-10. Worsening GP5 was associated with worsening HNCS, FHNSI summary score, and pain intensity. GP5 has promise as a summary indicator of symptom and side effect bother in HNSCC.

• Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg,Springer,Springer Nature B.V
• Subject: Adult / Aged / Aged, 80 and over / Analysis / Cancer / Cancer patients / Cancer therapies / Care and treatment / Complications and side effects / Drug effects / Female / Follow-Up Studies / Functional assessment / Head & neck cancer / Head and Neck Neoplasms / Humans / Indexes / Male / Measures / Medical treatment / Medicine / Medicine & Public Health / Middle Aged / Neck pain / Nursing / Nursing Research / Oncology / Pain / Pain Measurement - methods / Pain Medicine / Patient Reported Outcome Measures / Patients / Quality of Life / Quantitative psychology / Questionnaires / Rehabilitation Medicine / Retrospective Studies / Side effects / Squamous cell carcinoma / Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Head and Neck / Surveys and Questionnaires / Symptoms / Tumors / Well being / World health