Quality of life in cancer patients receiving palliative care

BACKGROUND: The main focus of palliative care services is to improve the patient's quality of life (QOL), which is defined as the subjective evaluation of life as a whole or the patient's appraisal and satisfaction with their current level of functioning compared with what they perceive to be possible or ideal. AIMS: In this prospective study we attempt to validate the Hindi version of a questionnaire designed by the functional assessment of chronic illness therapy (FACIT) measurement system; to measure the subjective QOL of cancer patients receiving home-based palliative care, determine ease of use of the questionnaire and correlate the QOL of these patients with the objective assessment of their Karnofsky's performance status and their numerical pain score. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: One hundred cancer patients receiving free home-based palliative care in New Delhi, India. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A multidisciplinary palliative home care team using the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General (FACT-G(©)) questionnaire in Hindi. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: Microsoft Excel Correlation. RESULTS: The FACT-G(©) questionnaire in Hindi is a useful tool in measuring QOL and can be used to monitor the patient's progress and symptom control during the course of the disease. It is simple to use and does not take too much time to complete. The results are tabulated in English and can be used for comparison purposes globally; the scoring process is very simple. CONCLUSIONS: Increasing QOL and KPS showed a positive correlation whereas increasing pain and better QOL show negative correlation, as do better performance status and increasing pain score.