Table 5.
Matrix of baseline and change of QoL scores, attrition rate, methodological quality score and RoB
| Type of cancer studies |
QoL scale | Baseline | From baseline to the middle of adjuvant CT/or RT | From baseline to the time of completion of adjuvant CT/or RT | From baseline to postadjuvant CT/RT follow-up period | Attrition (last follow-up) where reported (%) |
Methodological quality | Overall risk of bias judgement for non-RCTs |
| Breast | ||||||||
| RCTs | ||||||||
| Kornblith 201121 | EORTC | Standard CT 75.4 |
↓ (no information on P value) |
↓ (no information on P value) |
↑ (no information on P value) |
17 | 10 | (refer to RoB summary) |
| Capecitabine 76.5 |
↓ (no information on P value) |
↓ (no information on P value) |
↑ (no information on P value) |
18.6 | ||||
| Perrone 201523 | EORTC | Standard CT (mean or median was not reported) |
↓ (narrative/graph; mean or median was not reported |
No information | 11 | (refer to RoB summary) | ||
| Docetaxel (mean or median was not reported) |
↓ (narrative/graph; mean or median was not reported |
|||||||
| Crivellari 200018 | PACIS | Median 59 | ↑ (no information on P value) |
↑ (no information on P value) |
5.2 | 10 | (refer to RoB summary) | |
| Non-RCTs | ||||||||
| Arraras 200816 | EORTC | 59.5 | ↓ | ↑* ES 0.52 |
4.2 | 11 | low or moderate | |
| Browall 200817 | EORTC | 76 | ↓* ES 0.74 |
↓* ES 0.71 |
↓ (an improving trend) |
23.1 | 12 | serious |
| Dees 200019 | BCQ | 7.65 on the scale of 0–10 | ↓ | 36.4 | 10 | serious | ||
| Hurria 200620 | FACT-B | 116 on the scale of 0–148 | 0 | ↑ | 2 | 12 | low or moderate | |
| Watters 200322 | EORTC | 78 | ↓ | ↓* ES 0.66 |
↓ (an improving trend) |
0 | 11 | serious |
| Glioblastoma | ||||||||
| RCT | ||||||||
| Keime-Guibert 200725 | EORTC | 62.9 | ↓ | ↓ (an improving trend) |
25.7 | 11 | (refer to RoB summary) | |
| Non-RCTs | ||||||||
| Gállego Pérez-Larraya 201124 | EORTC | Mean or median was not reported | ↑* (narrative; mean or median was not reported) |
40.7 | 11 | serious | ||
| Minniti 200926 | EORTC | 58.3 | ↓ | 0 | 12 | low or moderate | ||
| Minniti 201327 | EORTC | 61.5 | ↑* | 58.5 | 12 | serious | ||
| Mixed | ||||||||
| Mohile 201128 | MD Anderson SI | 2.07 on the scale of 0–10 | ↑ (no information on P value) |
0 | 8 | serious | ||
| Prostate | ||||||||
| Arraras 200829 | EORTC | 66.8 | 0 | ↑* ES=0.25 |
8 | 6 | serious | |
| Colon cancer | ||||||||
| Bouvier 200830 | EORTC | 60 | ↑ (graphical data; mean or median was not reported) |
↑ (graphical data; mean or median was not reported) |
No information | 8 | serious | |
| Chang 201231 | EORTC | 59 | ↓ (narrative; mean or median was not reported) |
↑ (narrative; mean or median was not reported) |
15.8 | 9 | low or moderate | |
| Cervical | ||||||||
| Caffo 200332 | Diary card | 2.11 on the scale of 1–4 | ↑ | ↑ | No information | 6 | serious | |
| Lung | ||||||||
| Park 201333 | EORTC | 53 | ↓ (narrative; mean or median was not reported) |
↓ (narrative; mean or median was not reported) |
9.1 | 11 | low or moderate |
* P< 0.05; ‘0’represents no change; ‘↑’ denotes better QoL than baseline; ‘↓’ represents worse QoL than baseline.
QoL scale is on the scale of 0–100 unless specified otherwise.
ES, effect size which was calculated for significant result and where mean, SD and sample size were available of the respective article.
BCQ, Breast Cancer Chemotherapy Questionnaire; EORTC, European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer; FACT-B, Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Breast Cancer; PACIS, perceived adjustment to chronic illness scale.