Objective Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) is a major dose-limiting side effect of some anti-cancer drugs. However, medical staff frequently encounter difficulties in ascertaining the severity of CIPN. We sought to develop a questionnaire in order to accurately assess CIPN. The validity of this questionnaire was compared with that of free-style interviews.
Methods We developed the CIPN self-check sheet by analyzing existing self-assessment tools for CIPN and matching the National Cancer Institute-Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (NCI-CTCAE) grades. From August to December 2011, 77 cancer patients participated in this study. In order to evaluate the validity of the CIPN self-check sheet compared with a free-style interview assessment, the cross-classification and κ coefficients between the CTCAE grades from each assessment and those from a comprehensive assessment were analyzed. The comprehensive assessment utilized information obtained from the medical examination, free-style interview and CIPN self-check sheet.
Results Upon completion of the study, 248 CIPN self-check sheets were collected (median number of sheets per patient, 3; range, 1-14). The cross-classification analysis illustrated that the CIPN self-check sheet successfully identified all grade 3 cases. The coefficient of the CIPN self-check sheet was significantly higher than that of the free-style interviews [κ values: 0.988 (p<0.01) and 0.501 (p<0.01) for the self-check sheet and interviews, respectively].
Conclusion The CIPN self-check sheet can be used to assess the severity of CIPN based on the CTCAE grade more accurately than free-style interviews.