Abstract

Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) has recently gained importance as treatment options for tumors of the upper GI tract lead to improved long-term survival. HRQoL is often estimated by physicians even though their reliability and the impact of outside factors such as contact time and level of medical education is unclear. Therefore, in this study we investigated the correlation between physicians’, students’, and patients’ assessment of HRQoL. 54 patients presenting with tumors of the upper GI tract were included and asked to fill out the standardized HRQoL questionnaires EORTC QLQ-C30 and QLQ-OG25. Attending physicians and medical students filled out the same questionnaires through estimation of patients’ HRQoL. Correlation was assessed through Pearson’s and Kendall’s τb coefficients. Physicians’ and patients’ assessments correlated for one out of six of the functional and a third of the symptom scores. Students’ and patients’ assessments correlated for one third of the functional and two thirds of the symptom scores. Students tended to underestimate patients’ symptom burden while physicians tended to overestimate it. Physicians failed to correctly assess several pathognomonic symptoms in this study. Students showed higher correlation with patients’ symptoms than physicians. Even so, this adds to mounting evidence that shows the benefit of using patient-reported outcomes as a gold standard regarding HRQoL.

Details

Title
Students and physicians differ in perception of quality of life in patients with tumors of the upper gastrointestinal tract
Author
Schooren, Lena 1 ; Oberhoff, Grace 1 ; Schipper, Sandra 2 ; Koch, Alexander 3 ; Kroh, Andreas 1 ; Olde Damink, Steven 4 ; Ulmer, Tom F. 4 ; Neumann, Ulf P. 4 ; Alizai, Patrick H. 5 ; Schmitz, Sophia M. 6 

 RWTH Aachen University Hospital, Department of General, Visceral- and Transplantation Surgery, Aachen, Germany (GRID:grid.1957.a) (ISNI:0000 0001 0728 696X) 
 RWTH Aachen University Hospital, Department of General, Visceral- and Transplantation Surgery, Aachen, Germany (GRID:grid.1957.a) (ISNI:0000 0001 0728 696X); BG Klinikum Bergmanntrost, Department of Trauma and Reconstructive Sugery, Halle, Germany (GRID:grid.1957.a) 
 RWTH Aachen University Hospital, Department of Gastroenterology, Digestive Diseases and Intensive Care Medicine, Aachen, Germany (GRID:grid.1957.a) (ISNI:0000 0001 0728 696X) 
 RWTH Aachen University Hospital, Department of General, Visceral- and Transplantation Surgery, Aachen, Germany (GRID:grid.1957.a) (ISNI:0000 0001 0728 696X); Maastricht University Medical Center, Department of Surgery, Maastricht, The Netherlands (GRID:grid.5012.6) (ISNI:0000 0001 0481 6099); University Hospital Essen, Department of General-, Visceral- and Transplantation Surgery, Essen, Germany (GRID:grid.410718.b) (ISNI:0000 0001 0262 7331) 
 RWTH Aachen University Hospital, Department of General, Visceral- and Transplantation Surgery, Aachen, Germany (GRID:grid.1957.a) (ISNI:0000 0001 0728 696X); Gemeinschaftskrankenhaus Bonn, Klinik für Allgemein- und Viszeralchirurgie, Bonn, Germany (GRID:grid.1957.a) 
 RWTH Aachen University Hospital, Department of General, Visceral- and Transplantation Surgery, Aachen, Germany (GRID:grid.1957.a) (ISNI:0000 0001 0728 696X); University Hospital Essen, Department of General-, Visceral- and Transplantation Surgery, Essen, Germany (GRID:grid.410718.b) (ISNI:0000 0001 0262 7331) 
Pages
9460
Publication year
2024
Publication date
2024
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
e-ISSN
20452322
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
3046659945
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2024. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.