Table 2.
Median scores for patient-reported quality of life prior to treatment and at 6 months, 1 year and 2 years post-treatment with total number of patients in round brackets and 95% CIs in square brackets
| Quality of life | Presurgery | 6 months | 12 months | 24 months | Short term* (baseline vs 6 months) |
Long term* (baseline vs 24 months) |
Change† (6 months vs 24 months) |
| EQVAS numeric‡ | 55 [55 to 57] (4015) | 80 [75 to 80] (2050) | 80 [75 to 80] (1247) | 76 [75 to 80] (575) | 0.000↓ (2045) | 0.000↓ (573) | 0.024↑ (396) |
| EQ5D usual Activities | 1 [1 to 1] (4005) | 0 [0 to 0] (2051) | 0 [0 to 0] (1250) | 0 [0 to 0] (574) | 0.000↑ (2042) | 0.000↑ (570) | 0.477 (395) |
| EQ5D pain discomfort | 1 [1 to 1] (4004) | 1 [1 to 1] (2050) | 1 [1 to 1] (1252) | 1 [1 to 1] (573) | 0.000↑ (2041) | 0.000↑ (569) | 0.427 (394) |
| EQ5D anxiety depression | 1 [1 to 1] (3991) | 0 [0 to 0] (2049) | 0 [0 to 0] (1252) | 0 [0 to 0] (573) | 0.000↑ (2033) | 0.000↑ (569) | 0.331 (395) |
| EQ5D mobility | 0 [0 to 0] (3999) | 0 [0 to 0] (2046) | 0 [0 to 0] (1250) | 0 [0 to 0] (569) | 0.000↑ (2035) | 0.000↑ (563) | 0.339 (392) |
| EQ5D self-care | 0 [0] (3994) | 0 [0 to 0] (2033) | 0 [0 to 0] (1248) | 0 [0 to 0] (558) | 0.000↑ (2020) | 0.001↑ (548) | 0.364 (384) |
| EQ5D index‡§ | 0.689 [0.689 to 0.689] (3966) | 0.796 [0.796 to 0.796] (2032) | 0.796 [0.796 to 0.796] (1245) | 0.796 [0.796 to 0.796] (556) | 0.000↓ (2010) | 0.000↓ (546) | 0.043↑ (383) |
Median EQVAS lies in the range 0–100 with a higher score associated with a better quality of life. The other median scores (EQ5D) lie in the range 0–2, where a lower score is associated with a better quality of life.
Note that there is some variation in total number of responses depending on whether patients chose not to answer some questions.
*Statistical comparison (Mann-Whitney U test) of short-term symptom scores (6 months postsurgery) and long-term symptom scores (2 years postsurgery) with baseline scores (presurgery).
†Statistical comparison (Mann-Whitney U test) of change in symptom scores over time post-treatment (between 6 months and 2 years).
‡A high EQVAS score or a high EQ5D index score is associated with an improvement in QoL, whereas with all other QoL and symptom scores, a low value is associated with improvement.
§EQ5D index of 1 is equivalent to perfect health and 0 equivalent to death. Means are reported rather than medians.
↑, statistically significant increase; ↓, statistically significant decrease; EQVAS, EuroQol Visual Analogue Scale; EQ5D, EuroQol 5D; QoL, quality of life.