Evaluation of Clinical Application on Quality of Life of 46 Systematic Reviews from the Cochrane Breast Cancer Group

Abstract

ABSTRACT Aim: To assess the practical application of quality of life (QoL) in 46 systematic reviews of the Cochrane Breast Cancer Group (in the Cochrane Library) and to identify QoL instruments that have been validated and used in these patients. Methods: We directly included 46 systematic reviews from the Cochrane Breast Cancer Group (from 2000 to 2013). We extracted the following information: study characteristics, usage of QoL (including whether QoL was a primary end-point and whether QoL is or is not mentioned in the abstract), QoL instruments, methodology of QoL assessment and statistical analysis. Results: In the 46 systematic reviews, 543 randomised trials were included. Eight studies did not mention QoL in the full text, accounting for 17%. 19 studies (41%) were identified that reported QoL in the abstract, and 27 (59%) did not. There were 5 studies in which QoL served as primary outcome, 20 as secondary outcome, and 13 as an outcome. About 38 types of instruments were used to evaluate QoL. Most of the studies utilized two or more QoL instruments to assess different aspects of QoL in breast cancer. EORTC QLQ C-30 was the most frequently used, accounting for 27(92%).The second was the FACT, about 11 (46%), then was the SF-36, Linear Analogue Self assessment scales( LASA), and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) all respectively accounted for 5 (21%). Conclusions: It is concluded that the implementation of QoL assessments into clinical practice for breast cancer is not receiving enough attention. Also the instruments used to evaluate the QoL were varied and which tools would benefit patients is discussed. But there is no doubt that QoL will become an important development direction to evaluate health in the future. Disclosure: All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.