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01-12-2021 | Dyspnea | Research article

The role of EORTC QLQ-C15-PAL scores and inflammatory biomarkers in predicting survival in terminally ill patients with cancer

Authors: Nanako Koyama, Chikako Matsumura, Yoshihiro Shitashimizu, Morito Sako, Hideo Kurosawa, Takehisa Nomura, Yuki Eguchi, Kazuki Ohba, Yoshitaka Yano

Published in: BMC Cancer | Issue 1/2021

Abstract

Background

The clinical use of patient-reported outcomes as compared to inflammatory biomarkers for predicting cancer survival remains a challenge in palliative care settings. We evaluated the role of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire Core 15 Palliative scores (EORTC QLQ-C15-PAL) and the inflammatory biomarkers C-reactive protein (CRP), albumin (Alb), and neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) for survival prediction in patients with advanced cancer.

Methods

This was an observational study in terminally ill patients with cancer hospitalized in a palliative care unit between June 2018 and December 2019. Patients’ data collected at the time of hospitalization were analyzed. Cox regression was performed to examine significant factors influencing survival. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was performed to estimate cut-off values for predicting survival within 3 weeks, and a log-rank test was performed to compare survival curves between groups divided by the cut-off values.

Results

Totally, 130 patients participated in the study. Cox regression suggested that the QLQ-C15-PAL dyspnea and fatigue scores and levels of CRP, Alb, and NLR were significantly associated with survival time, and cut-off values were 66.67, 66.67, 3.0 mg/dL, 2.5 g/dL, and 8.2, respectively. The areas under ROC curves of these variables were 0.6–0.7. There were statistically significant differences in the survival curves between groups categorized using each of these cut-off values (p < .05 for all cases).

Conclusion

Our findings suggest that the assessment of not only objective indicators for the systemic inflammatory response but also patient-reported outcomes using EORTC QLQ-C15-PAL is beneficial for the prediction of short-term survival in terminally ill patients with cancer.

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Title: The role of EORTC QLQ-C15-PAL scores and inflammatory biomarkers in predicting survival in terminally ill patients with cancer
Authors: Nanako Koyama
Chikako Matsumura
Yoshihiro Shitashimizu
Morito Sako
Hideo Kurosawa
Takehisa Nomura
Yuki Eguchi
Kazuki Ohba
Yoshitaka Yano
Publication date: 01-12-2021
Publisher: BioMed Central
Keywords: Dyspnea
Care
Dyspnea
Fatigue
Biomarkers
Palliative Care Unit
Published in: BMC Cancer / Issue 1/2021
Electronic ISSN: 1471-2407
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12885-021-08049-3

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