Health-Related Quality of Life

Led by Dr. Gabriele Calaminus of Universitaetsklinikum Bonn (UKB), quality of life data was collected from cancer survivors to define risk groups for impaired health-related quality of life, using the main predictors identified during PanCareLIFE. Differences between countries were also be examined. In addition, PanCareLIFE assessed health-related quality of life over time to determine factors associated with changes. At the end of the project, a model was developed to implement regular health-related quality of life assessment during treatment and long-term follow-up. The team at UKB includes Katja Baust (Project coordinator, Psychologist), as well as Jans-Enno Müller (Data manager) and Cathy Scholtes (Physician).

In the first two years of the project, the WP6 team worked to identify what survivor information they needed for their planned studies, focusing on identifying data available across the European countries involved in the two quality of life studies (Germany, Czech Republic, Switzerland, France, the United Kingdom, Austria and the Netherlands). Given the impact of fertility and hearing impairment on quality of life, the WP6 team worked to identify overlap with the fertility (WP3) and hearing impairment (WP5) studies in PanCareLIFE. The WP6 team have worked collaboratively with their DPs to secure ethical approvals and identify eligible survivors. In years three and four of the project, the WP6 team supported with their data providers as they collected and sent their data to the data centre. In the final year of the project, the team examined the main predictors of health-related quality of life, with a particular focus on fertility and hearing impairment.

The results of our work will soon be published, so keep an eye on the Publications page!