Table 2.

Patient and caregiver quality of life and their associations with caregiver, patient, and caregiver-patient difference in estimations of patient’s life-expectancy (N=162)

			Estimations of Patients’ Life-Expectancy
			Caregiver		Patient		Difference
	N		Mean	SD	Mean	SD	Mean	SD
	162		1.92	1.79	1.59	1.67	0.33	1.98
Patient QoL	Mean	SD	r	p	r	p	r	p
Social (FACT)	23.1	4.2	0.01	0.919	−0.17	0.035	0.17	0.032
Emotional (McGill)	28.6	9.9	−0.16	0.039	−0.18	0.023	0.00	0.974
Existential (McGill)	44.3	11.3	−0.24a	0.003	−0.34a	0.000	0.07	0.346
Caregiver QoL	Mean	SD	r	p	r	p	r	p
Emotional (SF-12)	49.4	11.4	−0.24a	0.002	−0.22a	0.005	−0.03	0.752

For estimates of patients’ life-expectancy, higher scores represent more pessimistic (lower probability) estimates. For quality of life, higher scores represent better quality of life.

“Difference” is the numerical difference between caregiver and patient ratings of the patient’s life-expectancy (i.e., caregiver – patient). A positive difference score indicates that the caregiver reported a more pessimistic life-expectancy estimate than the patient. A negative difference score indicates that the patient reported a more pessimistic estimate than the caregiver.

Correlations adjusted for caregiver sex.

^aStatistically significant accounting for multiple comparisons.