Abstract
BackgroundThis study aims to validate and evaluate the psychometric properties and measurement invariance of the Italian version of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) Quality of Life Questionnaire-Core 30 (QLQ-C30), which is a measure of quality of life (QoL) for lung cancer patients after surgery.MethodsA total of 167 lung cancer patients completed the Italian version of the EORTC QLQ-C30 questionnaire at 30 days after they received a lobectomy. The factor structure of this scale was assessed by performing confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Measurement invariance was evaluated by considering differential item functioning (DIF) due to age, gender, and type of surgery (i.e., robot- or not robot-assisted).ResultsThe CFA demonstrated the validity of the factor structure of the EORTC QLQ-C30 in assessing overall health and eight distinct subscales of adverse events and functioning. Moreover, the results highlighted a minimal DIF with only trivial consequences on measurement invariance. Specifically, the DIF did not affect the mean differences of latent scores of QoL between patients undergoing robot-assisted surgery or traditional surgery.ConclusionThese findings supported the validity and suitability of the EORTC QLQ-C30 for the assessment of QoL in lung cancer patients of diverse ages and genders undergoing lobectomy with or without robot-assisted surgery.
Highlights
Patient reported outcomes (PROs) have become important factors in cancer care to measure the patient’s perception of the health status, including treatment side effects, functional impairments, and health-related quality of life (QoL) (U.S Department of Health and Human Services FDA Center for Drug Evaluation and Research et al, 2006; Mercieca-Bebber et al, 2018)
The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the factor structure proposed by Costa et al (2015) for the EORTC Quality of Life Questionnaire-Core 30 (QLQ-C30) in a sample of postoperative lung cancer patients who underwent lobectomy surgery
An Italian sample of 167 patients with lung cancer who were undergoing lobectomy were recruited for the value-based project1 at the European Institute of Oncology in Milan between October 2015 and October 2017
Summary
Other authors investigated the applicability of the EORTC QLQ-C30 structure, and positively demonstrated its invariance across different cancer sites (Costa et al, 2015) Despite these psychometric properties, few scientific articles performed factor analysis for validating this tool in lung cancer patients, a clinical area in which the EORTC QLQC30 is the most used instrument to report patient wellbeing through the different phases of disease (Damm et al, 2013). This study aims to validate and evaluate the psychometric properties and measurement invariance of the Italian version of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) Quality of Life Questionnaire-Core 30 (QLQ-C30), which is a measure of quality of life (QoL) for lung cancer patients after surgery
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