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Purpose: The aim of this study was to examine the reliability and validity, and the application of the Taiwan Chinese Version of the EORTC QLQ-OES18. Methods: The authors translated the questionnaire according to the guideline of the EORTC. Ninety-five patients with oesophageal cancer in National Taiwan University Hospital were interviewed using the questionnaire and the EORTC QLQ-C30 between October 2002 and September 2007. Answer distribution and psychometric properties of the EORTC QLQ-OES18 were examined. Results: The mean age of the patients was 60 years (SD 12 years). Most of the patients were in advanced stages of disease, with two-thirds off-treatment. The Cronbach's alpha coefficients were satisfactory (0.77-0.82) or near-satisfactory (pain: 0.67). The item-to-own and item-to-other scale correlations showed satisfactory results. Patients who were on-treatment versus off-treatment had significantly poorer quality of life scores in dysphagia, dry mouth, and taste, and a borderline poorer score in cough. Opposite situations were seen in the scales of reflux and choking. Conclusions: The EORTC QLQ-OES18 is a valid instrument to assess quality of life issues in patients with oesophageal cancer in Taiwan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study compared the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of mothers using different infant feeding methods. We used the Medical Outcomes Study 36-item Short-Form (SF-36) to measure the HRQOL of 1,747 mothers and used the scores to look for associations with infant feeding methods (not breastfeeding, breastfeeding for <1 month, breastfeeding 1–5 months, and still breastfeeding at the 6th month). The mothers were chosen via a stratified sampling from the Taiwan national birth registration data between November and December 2003. HRQOL and breastfeeding duration were positively associated. Of the eight unadjusted domain scores of the SF-36, general health perception and mental health were significantly different among these four different infant feeding groups ( P < 0.05). After controlling for potential confounding factors, mothers who breastfed for 6 months or longer had a higher HRQOL score than the other mothers. In addition, their physical functioning, general health perception and mental health scores were higher than those of mothers who did not breastfeed ( P < 0.05). Mother’s family income and parity and child’s health status were also associated with mother’s quality of life. Compared to the other mothers, mothers who breastfed for six moths or longer had better HRQOL. However, the limitation that this study was cross-sectional in design should be considered and further studies are needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to test the validity and reliability of the Taiwan Chinese translation of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire Core-30 (EORTC QLQ-C30, version 3) and Quality of Life Questionnaire Lung Cancer-13 (QLQ-LC13) questionnaires. Consecutively 51 patients with lung cancer undergoing active chemotherapy and 48 such patients undergoing regular follow-up completed the questionnaires. The intraclass correlation between test and retest ranged from 0.46 to 0.85 for the QLQ-C30 and was 0.76 for dyspnea for the QLQ-LC13. The κ coefficients between test and retest ranged from 0.51 to 0.73 for single items of the QLQ-C30 and 0.49–0.68 for five of the nine items in the QLQ-LC13. The Cronbach's α coefficients were &ges; 0.70 for all scales of the two questionnaires apart from that of cognitive functioning. The correlation coefficients between indices measuring similar dimensions of the EORTC QLQ-C30 and the SF-36 questionnaires ranged from 0.43 to 0.73, and that between the dyspnea scales of the two EORTC questionnaires was 0.70. Patients in the follow-up group revealed higher scores of global status/quality of life, and lower scores of nausea/vomiting, as also physical functioning. The questionnaires could also detect expected adverse effects of radiotherapy, cisplatin, and paclitaxel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study was to investigate the quality of life (QOL) impact of urinary incontinence (UI) and to examine its relationship with treatment seeking in adult Taiwanese women. We conducted a cross-section in-person questionnaire interview of 1608 adult women living in the Taipei area. The characteristics and incontinence status were recorded. A short form incontinence impact questionnaire (IIQ-7) was used to evaluate the QOL impact of UI. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to assess the determinative factors for treatment seeking. The mean IIQ-7 score of the 205 (12.7%) women who reported urinary leakage more than once per month in the preceding 12 months was 5.0 (range: 0–19), which showed a significant correlation with the severity of incontinence (r = 0.59, p < 0.001). Women with mixed type UI had a higher IIQ-7 score compared to those with stress or urge UI. Fifty-five (26.8%) incontinent women had sought medical help. Treatment seeking was highly related to IIQ-7 scores as 75% of incontinent women with an IIQ-7 score > 10 in contrast to 5% of those with an IIQ-7 score &les; (p < 0.001) had sought medical care. On multiple logistic regression analysis, perceiving UI as a disease and a higher IIQ-7 score were independent factors predicting treatment seeking. We concluded that UI is a common problem that brings substantial QOL impact to Taiwanese women. The IIQ-7 questionnaire may provide a useful measurement to quantitate the degree of QOL impact, which is largely affected by the severity and type of incontinence. Women who perceive UI as a disease and those with a higher degree of QOL impact are more likely to seek medical help. Furthermore, treatment seeking in Taiwanese women with significant UI may be more common than thought as a great majority of women with higher IIQ-7 scores had sought medical help. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The aim of this study was to explore what methods should be used to determine the minimal important difference (MID) and minimal important change (MIC) in scores for the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Head and Neck Cancer Module, the EORTC QLQ-HN43. Methods: In an international multi-centre study, patients with head and neck cancer completed the EORTC QLQ-HN43 before the onset of treatment (t1), three months after baseline (t2), and six months after baseline (t3). The methods explored for determining the MID were: (1) group comparisons based on performance status; (2) 0.5 and 0.3 standard deviation and standard error of the mean. The methods examined for the MIC were patients' subjective change ratings and receiver-operating characteristics (ROC) curves, predictive modelling, standard deviation, and standard error of the mean. The EORTC QLQ-HN43 Swallowing scale was used to investigate these methods. Results: From 28 hospitals in 18 countries, 503 patients participated. Correlations with the performance status were |r|< 0.4 in 17 out of 19 scales; hence, performance status was regarded as an unsuitable anchor. The ROC approach yielded an implausible MIC and was also discarded. The remaining approaches worked well and delivered MID values ranging from 10 to 14; the MIC for deterioration ranged from 8 to 16 and the MIC for improvement from − 3 to − 14. Conclusions: For determining MIDs of the remaining scales of the EORTC QLQ-HN43, we will omit comparisons of groups based on the Karnofsky Performance Score. Other external anchors are needed instead. Distribution-based methods worked well and will be applied as a starting strategy for analyses. For the calculation of MICs, subjective change ratings, predictive modelling, and standard-deviation based approaches are suitable methods whereas ROC analyses seem to be inappropriate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents abstracts on quality of life (QoL) which include the recent advances in the genetic underpinnings of QoL, expansion of the Wilson & Cleary Theoretical Model to incorporate genetic influences on QoL and differential item functioning over time as a preliminary response shift detection method.

An author index for the October 2010 issue of "Quality of Life Research" is presented.

The article presents abstracts of medical research. They include "The Use of Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQL) Assessments in Daily Clinical Oncology Nursing Practice: A Community Hospital-Based Intervention Study," "Statistical Issues to be Considered When Comparing the Performance of Healthcare Providers Using Patient-Reported Outcomes and "The Medicare Health Outcomes Survey."

Features several symposia on quality of life and medicine in the U.S. in 2005. Range of issues and subject matter discussed by the symposia; Keynote speakers; Implications for studies of quality of life and medicine.

Presents an index of scholars and experts on quality of life and medicine who contributed research articles to an issue of the "Quality of Life Research" periodical in 2005.

Discusses abstracts of research papers about quality of life. Cross-cultural comparison of subjective wellbeing using the personal wellbeing index; Linguistic validation of the asthma quality of life questionnaire and the asthma control questionnaire in Asian languages; Evaluation of the functional training program for the elderly after hip surgery; Pediatric incontinence quality of life tool.

Presents the authors who contributed to the November 2004 issue of "Quality of Life Research."

The authors followed the guidelines of translation and pilot testing of the EORTC QLQ-C30 and EORTC-QLQ-H&N35 questionnaires. The questionnaires were given to 50 nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients under active treatment and 50 under follow-up at our institution from November 2000 to June 2001. A retest was conducted 2 weeks after the first interview/form completion for the follow-up group. The intraclass correlation coefficients of the two questionnaires were moderate to high in the follow-up group. Cronbach's alpha coefficients of all scales of the two questionnaires were > or = 0.70 except that of cognitive functioning. Correlation of scales measuring similar dimensions of the QLQ-C30 and the SF-36 were moderate to high, while that of the QLQ-H&N35 and the QLQ-C30 and the SF-36 were moderate to low. Patients in the active treatment group had more serious acute problems due to disease and chemotherapy. Patients in the follow-up group had more serious chronic problems due to radiation therapy. We concluded that the Taiwan Chinese version of the EORTC QLQ-C30 and the EORTC QLQ-H&N35 had moderate to high test-retest reliability, high internal consistency in most scales, and could show the expected differences between patients in active treatment and follow-up group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]