A Systematic Review of Psychometric Properties of Health-Related Quality-of-Life and Symptom Instruments in Adult Acute Leukemia Survivors.
Ashley Leak Bryant, AnnMarie Walton, Julia Shaw-Kokot and 2 others
PMID 26645111WHAT IT FOUND
Seven instruments assess symptoms and quality of life in adult acute leukemia, but most were tested only within two years of treatment.
Use these tools for monitoring recovery, but do not assume they accurately measure long-term survivorship needs beyond two years.
Key findings
01The review identified seven instruments with varying psychometric properties, including the FACT-Leu as the only disease-specific measure.
02Most instruments have been tested in patients within two years of treatment, with a lack of data supporting their use in longer-term survivors.
03The FACT-F fatigue measure was used more frequently in the included studies than the general or leukemia-specific quality of life instruments.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The review only included English-language instruments, which limits the generalizability of the findings to other populations. The review focused exclusively on acute leukemia, so the findings cannot be applied to chronic leukemias or other hematological cancers. The authors did not search grey literature, such as dissertation abstracts, which may have missed relevant unpublished data. The included studies varied widely in cancer types and treatments, and the stage of cancer treatment was not consistently reported, making it difficult to apply the instruments to specific phases of care.
Declared interests
Dr. Reeve has a conflict of interest with the Patient Reported Outcomes and Behavioral Evidence (PROBE) Advisory Board. No other conflicts of interest were declared by the remaining authors.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume these instruments are validated for long-term acute leukemia survivors. The evidence shows they have primarily been tested in patients within two years of treatment, so their accuracy in measuring quality of life or symptoms in patients who have been in remission for five years or more is unknown.