Functional status and health-related quality of life in patients with primary intracranial tumour

This study aimed to evaluate the functional status and HRQoL in patients with primary intracranial tumours in Malaysia. Karnofsky Performance Scale (KPS) and Modified Barthel Index (MBI) were used to assess the functional status whereas EORTC core Quality of Life Questionnaire (QLQ-C30) and Brain Cancer Module (BN-20) questionnaires were used to assess the HRQoL. Thirty-eight patients with primary intracranial tumours admitted for surgery in University Malaya Medical Center were recruited. These assessments were administered before surgery (baseline) and six months after surgery (follow-up). All patients received some form of rehabilitation interventions after surgery. The global HRQoL and functional status of these patients showed improvement at six months after surgery. Emotional Functioning score showed the greatest improvement among the functional domains (63 vs 86, p=0.003). Reduction in symptom burden such as fatigue, nausea, vomiting, pain and headache were also noted at follow-up together with less future uncertainty (p<0.05). Pearson correlation revealed statistically significant positive correlation between functional status and HRQoL at baseline and follow-up, in particular, global health status (r=0.50 and r=0.67), physical functioning (r=0.53 and r=0.90) and role functioning (r=0.34 and r=0.77). Thus, from the correlation found, improving a patient's function and independence level throughout all stages of care, even before any surgical intervention is offered would improve the HRQoL concurrently.