NCOG-70. RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY OF A NEW SELF-REPORT INDEX OF COGNITIVE CONCERNS IN BRAIN TUMOR PATIENTS

Abstract

Abstract INTRODUCTION Subjective cognitive dysfunction is an important outcome measure in neuro-oncology and may provide additional information beyond performance-based neuropsychological testing. The Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Brain (FACT-Br) is a frequently used quality of life (QoL) measure that includes indices of physical, emotional, social, and neurologic aspects of disease, but does not measure cognitive concerns. This study seeks to develop and validate an index of self-reported cognition derived from existing items on the FACT-Br. METHODS 145 patients (Mage=51.08, Medu=15.63) with heterogeneous brain tumor diagnoses completed neuropsychological evaluation including cognitive testing and self-report measures. Nine FACT-Br items regarding cognition were combined to form the Cognitive Index (CI). Reliability of the CI was measured with Cronbach’s alpha. Concurrent validity was assessed by correlating the CI with the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) Cognitive Abilities-8 or PROMIS Cognitive Concerns-8. Discriminant validity was assessed by correlation of the CI with other FACT-Br indices and the Beck Depression and Anxiety Inventories (BDI, BAI). RESULTS Internal consistency within the CI was high (Cronbach’s a 0.864). The CI correlated strongly with the PROMIS-Abilities (r =.680; p< 0.001) and PROMIS-Concerns (r=.780; p< 0.001) indicating high convergent validity. Moderate correlations were observed between the CI and the physical and functional subscales of the FACT (r=.453 and .555), whereas correlations with the social and emotional functioning subscales were weaker (r=.381 and .325). The FACT-Br-CI correlated strongly with BDI (r=-.622) and more weakly with the BAI (r=-.344). Consistent with prior literature, the CI showed modest correlations with neuropsychological measures, including verbal memory encoding (r=.300), verbal fluency (r=.252) and a composite measure of cognition (r=.249; all p’s< .01). CONCLUSIONS The FACT-Br-CI is a reliable and valid measure of self-reported cognition. Studies that include the FACT-Br could be retrospectively analyzed to assess self-reported cognitive outcomes, enriching the information gained from prior research.