Prospective evaluation of prognostic variables from patient-completed questionnaires. North Central Cancer Treatment Group.

PURPOSE This study was developed to determine whether descriptive information from a patient-completed questionnaire could provide prognostic information that was independent from that already obtained by the patient's physician. PATIENTS AND METHODS An initial detailed questionnaire was administered to approximately 150 patients with advanced cancer. This questionnaire was subsequently revised and given to a total of 1,115 patients with advanced colorectal or lung cancer. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to evaluate the data from these questionnaires. RESULTS A total of 36 variables showed statistically significant prognostic information for survival in univariate analyses, even though many of these variables were associated with only a minimal increase in risk. A multivariate analysis demonstrated that there was a high correlation between many variables. Three major groups of variables became apparent as providing strong prognostic information. These included the following: (1) a physician's assessment of performance status (PS); (2) a patient's assessment of their own PS; and (3) a nutritional factor such as appetite, caloric intake, or overall food intake. CONCLUSION Data generated by a patient-completed questionnaire can provide important prognostic information independent from that obtained by other physician-determined prognostic factors.