3958 - Quality of Life (QoL) in Metastatic Colorectal Cancer (mCRC) in the Real World: Final Results of a European Survey

Background

Digestive Cancers Europe (DiCE), a European digestive cancer patients umbrella organization, planned and executed a cross-sectional survey in 15 European countries on the Unmet Needs of Patients Living with mCRC to examine the challenges and needs and QoL of those living with mCRC.

Methods

DiCE partner organisations, together with clinicians and nurses recruited patients for the survey (paper-based and online). The survey included demographics, data on discovery of the disease, diagnosis and treatment and the EORTC QLQ-C30 and CR29. Single data entry from the paper surveys was done by DiCE. Descriptive statistics and regression analyses were run to examine the global QoL score, function (F) - and symptom-specific scores, the item on financial difficulties and CR29 scores and their association with patient and disease characteristics and care setting by country and overall.

Results

883 surveys from Austria, Belgium, Cyprus (CY), Germany, Hungary (HU), Italy, Netherlands (NL), Norway, Serbia (RS), Poland, Spain (SP), UK, Portugal, Turkey and Ireland were collected. Only 8 countries with samples over 35 were analyzed on their own. Completion rates across QoL items were high (91-94%). Large variation across countries have been observed in mean scores (Table). Eastern vs Western Europe contrasted sharply, with Serbia and Poland reporting lower functional and much higher symptom scores for fatigue, nausea, vomiting, pain and insomnia. Regression analyses indicated that after adjustment for age, gender and care setting country differences remained significant. Patterns in results across dimensions of EORTC QLQ-CR29 were similar.Table:

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Conclusions

Country specific mean QoL scores in all function/symptom dimensions varied greatly across countries. This study indicates that care setting and other country-specific circumstances have important associations to QoL. Real-world mCRC patients’ QoL may be lower than those recruited in clinical trials.

Clinical trial identification

Editorial acknowledgement

Legal entity responsible for the study

EuropaColon / Digestive Cancers Europe.

Funding

Merck, BMS, Sandoz and Sirtex.

Disclosure

All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.