Health-Related Quality of Life for Patients Receiving Tumor Treating Fields for Glioblastoma

• Published in: Frontiers in oncology 2021-12, Vol.11, p.772261-772261
• Main Authors: Palmer, Joshua D, Chavez, Gordon, Furnback, Wesley, Chuang, Po-Ya, Wang, Bruce, Proescholdt, Christina, Tang, Chao-Hsiun
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: EQ-5D; glioblastoma; Oncology; quality of life; real-world evidence; tumor treating fields
• ISSN: 2234-943X; 2234-943X
• DOI: 10.3389/fonc.2021.772261

To date, there has been no large-scale, real-world study of the health-related quality of life outcomes for patients using tumor treating fields (TTFields) therapy for glioblastoma (GBM) treatment. A survey was mailed to 2,815 patients actively using TTFields for treatment of GBM in the USA (  = 2,182) and Europe (  = 633). The survey included patient-reported demographic and clinical information, as well as EuroQol's EQ-5D-5L and visual analogue scale (EQ-VAS) overall health score. A total of 1,106 applicable patients responded to the survey (USA = 782 and Europe = 324), with a mean age of 58.6 years (SD = 12.3). The average time since diagnosis and time using TTFields were 21.5 months (SD = 25.1) and 13.5 months (SD = 13.2), respectively. Over 61% of patients had been diagnosed at least 1 year prior and 28.4% at least 2 years prior; 45 patients (4.2%) had been diagnosed at least 5 years prior. Progressed disease was reported in 307 patients, while 690 reported non-progressed disease. Regression analyses showed that GBM disease progression and older age had predictable negative associations (