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Administering questionnaires to patients is an efficient and effective method for assessing patients' symptoms. However, item nonresponse (skipped questions) potentially compromises the utility of these questionnaires. Using an international sample of 2,067 patients with myeloproliferative neoplasms, we evaluated the impact of item nonresponse on scoring of the Myeloproliferative Neoplasms Symptom Assessment Form Total Symptom Score (MPN-SAF TSS or MPN-10). We characterized item nonresponse on the MPN-10 and compared strategies for addressing item nonresponse (available-case analysis, proration, and multiple imputation) on the MPN-10 (multi-symptom assessment) and Brief Fatigue Inventory (BFI; single-symptom assessment). Characteristics of multi-symptom assessments would be expected to adversely affect proration, yet proration and multiple imputation provided very similar results for both the MPN-10 and BFI. This is likely because the MPN-10 item missing data rates were low, consistent with prior clinic- and internet-based studies. These results support the published scoring method for the MPN-10 (proration). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Patients with myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) are faced with high disease-related symptom burden and quality of life (QoL) decrements. This analysis assesses the extent to which individual symptoms or summary measures across symptoms impact QoL overall and within MPN subgroups. Four sets of summary measures were constructed assessing symptom prevalence and severity within group-standardized and patient-individualized approaches. Among 1416 international patients with MPNs, mean symptom severity and prevalence were highly correlated (p < .001). Individual symptoms most impacting QoL were inactivity (R2=0.29), fatigue (R2=0.23), and depression (R2=0.23). Multiple symptom severity scores are needed to best predict QoL. Symptom severity at the patient-level is more predictive of QoL than severity at the group-level where a fewer number of symptoms are considered. Having at least one severe symptom and having multiple symptoms of moderate intensity are meaningfully predictive of QoL decrements. Results were highly consistent across disease subgroups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]