Measuring Quality of Life in Routine Oncology Practice Improves Communication and Patient Well-Being: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract

Purpose To examine the effects on process of care and patient well-being, of the regular collection and use of health-related quality-of-life (HRQL) data in oncology practice. Patients and Methods In a prospective study with repeated measures involving 28 oncologists, 286 cancer patients were randomly assigned to either the intervention group (regular completion of European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer-Core Quality of Life Questionnaire version 3.0, and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale on touch-screen computers in clinic and feedback of results to physicians); attention-control group (completion of questionnaires, but no feedback); or control group (no HRQL measurement in clinic before encounters). Primary outcomes were patient HRQL over time, measured by the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General questionnaire, physician-patient communication, and clinical management, measured by content analysis of tape-recorded encounters. Analysis employed mixed-effects modeling and multiple regression. Results Patients in the intervention and attention-control groups had better HRQL than the control group (P = .006 and P = .01, respectively), but the intervention and attention-control groups were not significantly different (P = .80). A positive effect on emotional well-being was associated with feedback of data (P = .008), but not with instrument completion (P = .12). A larger proportion of intervention patients showed clinically meaningful improvement in HRQL. More frequent discussion of chronic nonspecific symptoms (P = .03) was found in the intervention group, without prolonging encounters. There was no detectable effect on patient management (P = .60). In the intervention patients, HRQL improvement was associated with explicit use of HRQL data (P = .016), discussion of pain, and role function (P = .046). Conclusion Routine assessment of cancer patients' HRQL had an impact on physician-patient communication and resulted in benefits for some patients, who had better HRQL and emotional functioning.