Comparison of the EORTC QLU-C10D (a cancer-specific utility instrument) with generic utility instruments and development of a comprehensive manual for its use

The QLU-C10D is a newly developed, cancer-specific multi-attribute utility instrument which has been included in the EORTC (European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer) assessment system and can be used to obtain health utilities for use in economic evalations. The most commonly used utility instruments are generic, i.e. cover overall aspects of health only. The QLU-C10D is based on the QLQ-C30, one of the most widely used quality of life instruments in oncology research. Ten of its 15 domains were selected in a thorough process to be used in the QLU-C10D, including cancer-specific issues, such as fatigue and nausea. Therefore, it may be more sensitive to health state differences and changes in cancer patients’ than generic measures. To investigate this, in addition to our own prospective data collection, we also retrieve data from existing trials which used both, the QLQ-C30 and other generic utility instrument. We will retrospectively calculate QLU-C10D utilities to compare them to utilites obtained from the generic instrument with regard to sensitivity and responsiveness using clinical known groups and health changes over time as defined in the respective trial (e.g. treatment response groups, performance status, treatment arms, etc.)