Fatigue visual analogue scale score correlates with quality of life in cancer patients receiving epoetin alfa (Sandoz) for chemotherapy-induced anaemia: The CIROCO study.

Purpose: Available tools to measure fatigue and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in cancer patients are often difficult to use in clinical practice. The fatigue visual analogue scale (VAS) provides a simple method to assess fatigue. This study evaluated the correlation between HRQoL and fatigue perceived by cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy.
Methods: This was a non-interventional prospective study of adult cancer patients in France presenting with chemotherapy-induced anaemia (CIA) treated with epoetin alfa (Sandoz). Data were collected using an electronic case report form at study inclusion (T0), after 2-3 chemotherapy cycles (T1) and after 4-6 cycles (T2).
Results: The study included 982 patients from September 2015 to October 2017. Overall, there was a negative correlation between fatigue VAS and HRQoL. The overall haemoglobin (Hb) change between T0 and T2 was +17.8 % (± 18.1 %). Fatigue assessed by both patients and physicians showed a clinically significant improvement during the study. Global HRQoL also increased.
Conclusion: Treatment of CIA with epoetin alfa (Sandoz) improved Hb levels, fatigue, and HRQoL, with a correlation observed between fatigue VAS score and HRQoL. Fatigue VAS could act as a simple alternative to more complex methods to measure HRQoL; however, further analyses are required to confirm this association.
Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: JD serves on a scientific advisory board for Sandoz. NB, KL, and LS have nothing to declare. AA has received fees for expertise from AstraZeneca, Bristol Myers Squibb, Amgen, and Pfizer; personal fees from BMS, AstraZeneca, and Roche; and travel expenses from Novartis, Roche, and AstraZeneca. SH and EN are employees of Sandoz. LZ serves on scientific advisory boards for Sandoz, Roche, Pfizer, Lilly, Novartis, AstraZeneca, Seagen, and Vifor. SC serves on scientific advisory boards for Sandoz, Biogaran, Janssen, AbbVie, Takeda, Accord Healthcare, and Roche.
(Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)