Reliability, validity, and responsiveness of the Japanese version of the EORTC QLQ-ELD14 in evaluating the health-related quality of life of elderly patients with cancer

• DOI: 10.1007/s00432-022-04414-2
• Publication Date: 2022-10-28T17:05:26Z
• Authors: Yumiko Kinoshita; Rieko Izukura; Junji Kishimoto; Maki Kanaoka; Hayato Fujita; Koji Ando; Shuntaro Nagai; Sayuri Akiyoshi; Tetsuzo Tagawa; Makoto Kubo; Junichi Inokuchi; Kenoki Ohuchida; Eiji Oki; Kentaro Tanaka; Masatoshi Eto; Tomoharu Yoshizumi; Masafumi Nakamura; Akiko Chishaki
• Keywords: Research; East Asian People; COVID-19; Reproducibility of Results; 3. Good health; 03 medical and health sciences; 0302 clinical medicine; Neoplasms; Surveys and Questionnaires; Quality of Life; Humans; Pandemics; Aged

This study evaluated the reliability, validity, and responsiveness of the Japanese version of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) QLQ-ELD14 and measured the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of elderly Japanese patients with cancer aged ≥ 60 and ≥ 70 years.The study recruited elderly Japanese patients with cancer aged ≥ 60 (≥ 70) years (n = 1803 [n = 1236]). The EORTC QLQ-ELD14 was evaluated for reliability, validity, responsiveness, and correlations of changes in score between the EORTC QLQ-ELD14 and the EORTC QLQ-C30 before and after the commencement of the COVID-19 pandemic.In both age groups, the proportion of missing items was low (< 3%). Cronbach's α was good at ≥ 0.70, except for two of the seven items. All the intraclass coefficient constants were good at ≥ 0.70. The concurrent validity was good but correlation with the EORTC QLQ-C30 was not strong, except for the hypothesis items. Regarding the assessment of responsiveness, only one item ("maintaining purpose") of the EORTC QLQ-ELD14 worsened (- 6.14 ± 29.20, standard response of mean > 0.2) after the commencement of the COVID-19 pandemic. The changes in score between the EORTC QLQ-ELD14 and the "global health status/QOL" and "summary score" of the EORTC QLQ-C30 had moderate-to-high negative correlations for all items, except two. Hypotheses to evaluate construct validity were accepted at 90%, while responsiveness was accepted at 80%.The Japanese version of the EORTC QLQ-ELD14 questionnaire appears to have acceptable reliability, validity, and responsiveness to evaluate HRQOL in elderly Japanese people with cancer.