Evidence map›Paper›PMID 21789156›Full record

ArticleTherapeutic advances in medical oncology2011

Health-related quality of life and cancer clinical trials.

David Osoba

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Therapeutic advances in medical oncology, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 105 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
105citing papers in PubMed, 4 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

105 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Differences and common ground in the frameworks of health-related quality of life in traditional Chinese medicine and modern medicine: a systematic review.Quality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation · 2024
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  4. Systematic review reveals limitations of studies evaluating health-related quality of life after potentially curative treatment for esophageal cancer.Quality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation · 2013
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  20. A comparison of in-the-moment and retrospective patient-reported outcome measures in advanced cancer.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2026
    Observational

45 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

1 author.

David OsobaProfessor (retired), Department of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, and Quality of Life Consulting, West Vancouver, BC, Canada; 4939 Edendale Court, West Vancouver, BC, Canada V7W 3H7.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The measurement of patient-reported outcomes, including health-related quality of life, is a new initiative which has emerged and grown over the past four decades. Following the development of reliable and valid self-report questionnaires, health-related quality of life has been assessed in tens of thousands of patients and a wide variety of cancers. This review is based on a selection of data published in the last decade and is intended primarily for healthcare professionals. The assessments in clinical trials have been particularly useful for elucidating the effects of various cancers and their treatments on patients' lives and have provided additional information that enhances the usual clinical endpoints used for determining the benefits and toxicity of treatment. With growing experience the quality of the health-related quality of studies has improved and, in general, recent studies are more likely to be methodologically robust than those that were performed in earlier decades. Health-related quality of life has become a more accurate predictor of survival than some other clinical parameters, such as performance status. The overall outlook for the routine assessment of patient-reported outcomes in clinical trials is assured and, eventually, it is likely to become a standard part of clinical practice. However, there is still a need for a clear method for determining the clinical meaningfulness of changes in scores. The answer will probably come from the greater use of patient-reported outcomes and the consequent growth of experience that is necessary to make such judgements.

Indexed as

breast cancerclinical meaningfulnessclinical trialscolorectal cancerhealth-related quality of lifelung cancerpalliative carepatient-reported outcomesprediction of survivalprostate cancersupportive caresymptom control

Identifiers

PMID21789156
PMCPMC3126042

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.