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Approaches to the analysis of quality of life data: experiences gained from a Medical Research Council Lung Cancer Working Party palliative chemotherapy trial

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Abstract

Standardization in the choice of quality of life (QOL) instruments and their application in randomised clinical trials have been advocated and generally accepted. However, there is now an urgent need to address the problems relating to the analysis and presentation of the data thus generated. There are intrinsic difficulties associated with QOL data, namely its multidimensional nature, attrition and missing data, and there is no consensus as to how these problems should be dealt with. This paper therefore considers there problems using interim data from a large Medical Research Council randomised trial in patients with small cell lung cancer and a poor prognosis, in which attrition and compliance are major concerns. Three possible approaches to the analysis of these data, which use different subsets of patients, are examined in detail. The strengths and weaknesses of these three methods are discussed, and examples of their use in the literature are given and compared with other reported approaches. The need for a standard definition of compliance is also emphasised, and a method of presentation suggested. The best current advice is that QOL data should be analysed in a number of different ways, and conclusions reached only when consistency is seen.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CRC Psychological Medicine Group, Christie Hospital NHS Trust, Wilmslow Road, Withington, M20 4BX, Manchester, UK

    P. Hopwood

  2. MRC Cancer Trials Office, 5 Shaftesbury Road, CB2 2BW, Cambridge, UK

    R. J. Stephens & D. Machin

Authors
  1. P. Hopwood
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  2. R. J. Stephens
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  3. D. Machin
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Additional information

P. Hopwood is supported by the Cancer Research Campaingn.

This paper is based on a presentation given by one of the authors (PH) at the British Psychosocial Oncology Group Conference in December 1992.

This paper is given on behalf of the MRC Lung Cancer Working Party whose members are Bleehen N. M., Bolger J. J., Clark P. I., Girling D. J., Hasleton P. S., Hopwood P., Macbeth F. R., Machin D., Moghissi K., Saunders M. I., Stephens R. J., Thatcher N. (Chairman) and White R. J.

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Hopwood, P., Stephens, R.J. & Machin, D. Approaches to the analysis of quality of life data: experiences gained from a Medical Research Council Lung Cancer Working Party palliative chemotherapy trial. Qual Life Res 3, 339–352 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00451726

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00451726

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