Reference Data for Standardized Quality of Life Questionnaires in Indian Patients with Brain Metastases from Non-small Cell Lung Cancer: Results from a Prospective Study

INTRODUCTION Reference data for European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) quality of life questionnaires do not include studies from the Indian subcontinent. The objective of the current study was to establish a reference dataset for Indian patients of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) presenting with brain metastases (BM). MATERIAL AND METHODS One hundred forty patients with NSCLC with BM treated between 2012-2015 were registered in a prospective cohort study (CTRI/2013/01/003299). The baseline quality of life was evaluated using the EORTC general quality of life questionnaire QLQ-C30 and lung cancer specific module LC13. Minimum important difference (MID) scores for individual domains of the EORTC QLQ-C30 and LC13 questionnaires were derived (MID = 0.2 x standard deviation) from the reference data for patients with recurrent/metastatic lung cancers. In addition, a systematic review was conducted to identify studies reporting baseline quality of life scores for recurrent/metastatic NSCLC. RESULTS Scores of several functional as well as symptom scales in the current NSCLC population differed by more than the MID from the baseline mean scores in the reference EORTC population as well as that reported from other studies. Differences in mean score from the EORTC reference data ranged from 6.2 and 9.4 points for the role functioning and cognitive functioning domains. In the symptom scales, the largest differences were observed for the financial difficulties (23.9) scores for the QLQ-C30 and peripheral neuropathy (21.7) for LC13 questionnaires. CONCLUSION The current study demonstrates that baseline reference scores need to be established for patients from the Indian subcontinent. The findings from the current study have important implications for studies employing quality of life (QOL) assessment in the Indian NSCLC patient population.