Initial Evidence to Support the use of Health-Related Quality of Life Measurement to Quantify the Impact of Cancer in Dogs

 

Introduction: Instruments to measure canine cancer focus on functional changes, whereas health-related quality of life (HRQL) encompasses emotional as well as physical well-being. VetMetrica, a 46-item web-based generic HRQL instrument generates scores in four HRQL domains (vitality, pain, distress, anxiety). The purpose of this study was to test feasibility of these 46 items for cancer measurement.

Materials and Methods: Owners of dogs with multicentric lymphoma completed a paper-based, 109-item prototype at their initial consultation and reported their dog’s quality of life (QOL) on a 0–10 numerical rating scale. Disease stage and substage were recorded and domain scores calculated using the 46-item responses. Score differences for substages a and b dogs were investigated with non-parametric statistics (Mann–Whitney) and the relationship between owner QOL scores and domain scores with Pearson’s coefficient.

Results: Owners of 47 dogs (23 substage a, 12 males, 11 females, median age 9 (3–13) years; 24 substage b, 17 males, 7 females, median age 8 (2–12) years) completed the prototype. Mean (95% CI) for substage a was vitality 4.39 (3.90, 4.89); Pain 1.43 (0.95, 1.91); Distress1.08 (0.59, 1.56); Anxiety 1.01 (0.64, 1.37) and for substage b Vitality 3.19 (2.53, 3.84); Pain 2.50 (1.91, 3.09); Distress 2.01 (1.34, 2.68); Anxiety 1.99 (1.38, 2.61). Differences were significant, Vitality p = 0.008; Pain p = 0.008; Distress p = 0.042; Anxiety p = 0.017. Pearson’s coefficients were 0.73 (Vitality), 0.72 (Pain), 0.69 (Distress) and 0.72 (Anxiety).

Conclusion: These 46 items show promise for the measurement of the impact of canine cancer on QOL.

Acknowledgements: Professor Reid is the Director and Dr Noble an employee of NewMetrica Ltd, a company that provides VetMetrica under commercial license for clinical trials.