Psychometric Testing of the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire-Chemotherapy-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy 20-Item Scale Using Pooled Chemotherapy-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy Outcome Measures Standardization and Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology A151408 Study Data.
Ellen M Lavoie Smith, Tanima Banerjee, James J Yang and 4 others
PMID 29649081WHAT IT FOUND
In 1155 patients with chemotherapy-induced neuropathy, the 20-item EORTC QLQ-CIPN20 fit together better as a 16-item version after autonomic and hearing items were removed, but its items did not cluster into expected sensory, motor, and autonomic groups.
Key findings
01After the autonomic and hearing items were removed, the remaining 16 items fit together better than the original 20-item scale.
02The autonomic items did not behave as a coherent symptom group; reported values were 0.62 for women and 0.39 for men.
03The two groups found in the analysis included items from both sensory and motor symptoms.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The analysis pooled existing data from studies with different designs and time points, and it used only the most severe CIPN time point for each group, so it may not represent how the questionnaire behaves over time. The sample was geographically and linguistically mixed, and the English version was used by about three times as many patients as all other languages combined, but the analysis was not stratified by language. Some items may have been misunderstood or answered dishonestly, especially numbness versus tingling and the driving/pedals item. The shortened 16-item version was not prospectively tested in this paper; the authors say it needs further testing before being recommended as a gold-standard measure. Autonomic symptoms such as dizziness, blurred vision, erectile dysfunction, and hearing loss can have other causes, so those items may not measure CIPN specifically.
Declared interests
The article is listed as supported by NIH extramural research funding, and the authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not treat the 16-item scale as a finished clinical measure. The paper says the shortened version still needs further testing before it can be recommended as a gold-standard patient-reported outcome for chemotherapy-induced neuropathy.