Does the Palliative Performance Scale have added value over the Karnofsky Performance Status in ambulatory cancer patients receiving palliative care?

Barthel Index is a valid and reliable tool to measure the functional independence of cancer patients in palliative care

Background

Our objective was to verify the reliability, internal consistency and construct validity of the Barthel Index in Brazilian cancer patients in palliative care.

Methods

We included patients with cancer, both sexes, and age greater than or equal to 18 years. We used to evaluate patients the Barthel Index, Karnofsky Performance Scale (KPS), and European Organization for Research in the Treatment of Cancer Questionnaire-core 15 (EORTC-QLQ-C15-PAL). The measurement properties evaluated in this study were test–retest and inter-rater reliability and construct validity (tested by means of correlations with other instruments).

Results

We included 220 patients for construct validity and a subsample of 27 patients for reliability analyses. We observed adequate reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient ≥ 0.962) and internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.942). There were adequate correlations between the Barthel Index and the KPS (rho = 0.766), and the functional capacity domain of the EORTC-QLQ-C15-PAL (rho = -0.698).

Conclusion

The Brazilian version of the Barthel Index presents adequate test–retest and inter-rater reliability, acceptable internal consistency, and valid construct for measuring functional independence in cancer patients.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12904-022-01017-z.

Clinical frailty and performance scale translation in palliative care: scoping review

BACKGROUND

Frailty is associated with advancing age and increases the risk of adverse outcomes and death. Routine assessment of frailty is becoming more common in a number of healthcare settings, but not in palliative care, where performance scales (eg, the Australia-modified Karnofsky Performance Status Scale (AKPS)) are more commonly employed. A shared understanding of performance and frailty measures could aid interspecialty collaboration in both end-of-life care research and clinical practice.

AIMS

To identify and synthesise evidence comparing measures of performance routinely collected in palliative care with the Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS), and create a conversion chart to support interspecialty communication.

METHODS

A scoping literature review with comprehensive searches of PubMed, Web of Science, Ovid SP, the Cochrane Library and reference lists. Eligible articles compared the CFS with the AKPS, Palliative Performance Scale (PPS), Karnofsky Performance Scale or Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group Performance Status or compared these performance scales, in patients aged >18 in any setting.

RESULTS

Searches retrieved 3124 articles. Two articles directly compared CFS to the PPS. Thirteen studies translated between different performance scores, facilitating subsequent conversion to CFS, specifically: AKPS/PPS 10/20=very severe frailty, AKPS/PPS 30=severe frailty, AKPS/PPS 40/50=moderate frailty, AKPS/PPS60=mild frailty.

CONCLUSION

We present a tool for converting between the CFS and performance measures commonly used in palliative care. A small number of studies provided evidence for the direct translation between CFS and the PPS. Therefore, more primary evidence is needed from a wider range of population settings, and performance measures to support this conversion.

Comparisons of effects of SOX and mFOLFOX6 chemotherapy regimens on patients with locally advanced gastric cancer

The neoadjuvant chemotherapy plays an important role in locally advanced gastric cancer, but its efficacy, safety profiles and clinical outcomes among different regimens still remain controversial. In this study, totally 231 eligible patients with locally advanced gastric cancer were enrolled. These patients were divided into the observation group (SOX regimen, n = 123) and control group (mFOLFOX6 regimen, n = 108) according to different chemotherapy regimens. Then, the differences in chemotherapy efficacy, adverse reactions, surgical characteristics, complications and survival condition were compared. No significant differences were observed in clinical efficacy of chemotherapy, the rate of D2 lymph node clearance, R0 resection, complications, responses of neoadjuvant chemotherapy and survival condition between two groups (P > 0.05). The incidence of abdominal pain, diarrhoea, nausea and vomiting in the observation group were significantly lower than those in the control group (16.26% vs 29.63%, χ² = 5.893, P < 0.05; 11.38% vs 26.85%, χ² = 9.084, P < 0.05; 35.77% vs 53.70%, χ² = 7.499, P < 0.05). The SOX regimen and mFOLFOX6 regimen have similar chemotherapy efficacy for locally advanced gastric cancer, but SOX regimen has a lower risk of gastrointestinal adverse reactions comparing with mFOLFOX6 regimen.

Short-form quality care questionnaire-palliative care has acceptable measurement properties in Brazilian cancer patients

BACKGROUND

Our objective was to perform the translation, cross-cultural adaptation, and validation of the Quality Care Questionnaire-Palliative Care (QCQ-PC) into Brazilian Portuguese for cancer patients in palliative care. The translation and cross-cultural adaptation comprised the following stages: translation, synthesis of translations, back-translation, analysis by a committee of experts, testing of the pre-final version, and definition of the final version. The evaluated measurement properties were: structural validity using factor analysis, test-retest reliability using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), internal consistency using Cronbach's alpha, and construct validity using the correlations between the QCQ-PC and other questionnaires already validated in Brazil.

RESULTS

Two hundred and twenty-five cancer patients were included for validity analyses, and a subsample of 30 patients was used for test-retest reliability. The most adequate fit indexes were for the short version of the QCQ-PC (SF-QCQ-PC), with two domains and 12 items. There was adequate reliability and internal consistency, with values of the ICC ≥ 0.83 and Cronbach's alpha ≥0.82. There were correlations > 0.30 between the SF-QCQ-PC and the Karnofsky Performance Scale, the Palliative Prognostic Index, the sadness domain of the Edmonton Symptom Assessment System, the Barthel Index, and all domains related to the McGill Quality of Life Questionnaire and the European Organization for Research in the Treatment of Cancer Questionnaire-core.

CONCLUSION

The short version of the SF-QCQ-PC has acceptable psychometric properties for use in Brazil.

The Brazilian Version of the Edmonton Symptom Assessment System (ESAS) Is a Feasible, Valid and Reliable Instrument for the Measurement of Symptoms in Advanced Cancer Patients

Purposes

To develop and validate a Portuguese version of the Edmonton Symptom Assessment System (ESAS) in Brazilian patients with advanced cancer.

Methods

The ESAS was translated and then back translated into Portuguese in accordance with international guidelines. The final version was approved by an Expert Committee after pilot testing on 24 advanced cancer patients. Subsequently, we evaluated the time to complete the assessment, the number of unanswered items, internal consistency, convergent validity, and known-group validity in a sample of 249 advanced cancer patients who completed the ESAS along with the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Core Quality of Life Questionnaire (EORTC QLQ-C30), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), and Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS). A total of 90 clinically stable patients were retested after 4 to 96 hours (test-retest reliability), and 80 patients answered the ESAS after 21 (±7) days to measure scale responsiveness using an anchor-based method.

Results

The ESAS was completed in a mean time of only 2.2 minutes. The internal consistency was good (Cronbach's alpha = 0.861), and the removal of single items did not change the overall alpha value. For convergent validity, Spearman’s correlation coefficients between the ESAS symptom scores and the corresponding EORTC QLQ-C30 and ESS symptom scores ranged between 0.520 (95% CI = 0.424–0.605) and 0.814 (95% CI = 0.760–0.856), indicating moderate to strong correlations. Test-retest reliability values were considered adequate, with intraclass correlation coefficients ranging from 0.758 (95% CI = 0.627–0.843) to 0.939 (95% CI = 0.905–0.960).

Conclusions

ESAS is a feasible, valid and reliable multi-symptom assessment instrument for use in Brazil.