Abstract 1624P
Background
The QLQ-C30 is one of the most widely used patient-reported outcome (PRO) instrument to assess health-related quality of life in cancer patients developed by the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer. Even if only little scientific evidence is published on this topic, patients often report that their emotional and physical state varies clearly depending on weather conditions. To enhance the understanding of quality of life in cancer patients, this study analyzed external factors like weather data that are associated with patients’ well-being.
Methods
The study is a multicenter inpatient and outpatient trial. Over a period of 12 months data was obtained from cancer patients in two German cancer centers using the QLQ-C30. Items were assigned to three scales: a function scale, a symptom scale, and the global health status. Patients were approached by their medical oncologist or nursing staff to complete the questionnaire anonymously once or multiple times. QoL data were linked to weather factors including temperature, air pressure and hours of sunshine.
Results
We received a total of n=5040 responses (54 % male). Men had better scores in the general function scale (men: mean 68.08, women: mean 62.85, p < .0001) and global health status (men: mean 56.89, women mean 54.26, p .0009) and showed lower scores in the symptom scale (men: mean 26.33, women: mean 30.73, p < .0001). More than two hours of sunshine per day resulted in significantly higher global health status score in both genders than less than two hours of sunshine (mean 57.04 vs. 53.10, p < .0001). Global health status was significantly lower in winter months than in summer (mean 53.83 vs. 57.48, p < .0001) presenting highest scores in June and July.
Conclusions
The findings of our study indicate that seemingly quality of life in cancer patients as well as patient-reported outcomes (PROs) can be influenced systematically by external factors like season or weather conditions. This could possibly also be of importance when interpreting the results of studies that use standardized instruments to assess health-related quality of life in cancer patients -e.g., if the questionnaires were only answered in certain month or under external conditions that were not evenly distributed.
Clinical trial identification
Editorial acknowledgement
Legal entity responsible for the study
The authors.
Funding
Has not received any funding.
Disclosure
All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.