A Comparison of Health Status and Quality of Life in Patients with Intermittent Claudication.

BACKGROUND: Patient reported outcome measures (PROMs) such as health status (HS) and quality of life (QOL) are frequently used interchangeably while they represent different outcomes. Whether a discrepancy exists in patients with intermittent claudication (IC) in changes over time between HS and QOL is unclear. This study aimed to investigate the strength and the direction of the association between HS and QOL over time in patients with IC that underwent supervised exercise therapy (SET). MATERIAL AND METHODS: Patients were part of the ELECT multi-center prospective cohort study. One goal of this study was to obtain data on HS and QOL at different time intervals of patients with IC that underwent SET. HS (VascuQOL-6) and QOL (WHOQOL-BREF) were completed at baseline, 3 months, and 6 months follow up. Pearson's correlation coefficients and the associated common variances (R2) were calculated to measure the strength and the direction of the association between HS and QOL in changes between baseline and follow-up moments. RESULTS: In total, 177 patients were included in data analyses. Only changes in physical QOL and overall QOL had a small correlation with changes over time in HS, at both 3- and 6 months follow up (respectively R2=.14; P < 0.001 and R2 = 0.12; P < 0.001 for physical QOL and R2 = 0.18; P < 0.001 and R2 = 0.13; P < 0.001 for overall QOL). CONCLUSIONS: This study showed that HS and QOL provide different outcomes in patients with IC that underwent SET. Future studies should be aware of these differences before PROMs are being incorporated as an outcome measure in clinical studies.

Caregiver strain on informal caregivers when providing care for older patients undergoing major abdominal surgery: a longitudinal prospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Health-care systems nowadays rely on complementary patient care by informal caregivers. The need for, and burden on, informal caregivers will likely increase in the upcoming years. This study aimed to examine the burden on caregivers when providing care for elderly patients undergoing major abdominal surgery. METHODS: A single-centre longitudinal cohort study was conducted between November 2015 and June 2018 in the Amphia hospital in Breda, the Netherlands. Patients aged 70+ undergoing elective surgery for colorectal carcinoma (CRC) or an abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) were included in this study. Informal caregiver burden was assessed and compared over time using the Caregiver Strain Index (CSI) at the outpatient clinic visit, at discharge, 2 weeks post-discharge and after 6 and 12 months. The effects of patient- and caregiver-related factors on the experienced caregiver strain were examined. RESULTS: CSI scores of 248 caregivers were significantly increased at discharge (3.5 vs 2.6; p < 0.001) and 2 weeks post-discharge (3.3 vs 2.6; p < 0.001). After 12 months, scores dropped below baseline scores (1.8 vs 2.6; p = 0.012). The highest strain was observed 2 weeks post-discharge for AAA patients and at discharge for CRC patients. Older age, physical or cognitive impairment and burden of comorbidity were associated with an increased caregiver strain at baseline. Type of surgery was independently associated with the change in mean CSI scores over time; a bigger change in caregiver burden is observed after open surgery. CONCLUSION: In the early postoperative period, perceived caregiver strain was significantly increased. Psychological support for caregivers may be advisable, with timing of this support depending on diagnosis and patient-related factors. TRIAL REGISTRATION: This manuscript was retrospectively registered on 05-04-2016 in the Netherlands Trial Register (NTR5932). http://www.trialregister.nl/trialreg/admin/rctview.asp?TC=5932.

Discordance in HER2 Status in Gastro-esophageal Adenocarcinomas: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

Trastuzumab combined with chemotherapy is standard of care for HER2 positive advanced gastro-esophageal cancers. The reported prevalence of HER2 discordance between primary tumors and corresponding metastases varies, hampering uniform patient selection for HER2 targeted therapy. This meta-analysis explores the influence of HER2 assessment methods on this discordance and investigates the prevalence of HER2 discordance in gastro-esophageal adenocarcinomas. PubMed, Embase and Cochrane databases were searched until January 2016. Differences in discordance rate between strict and broad(er) definitions of HER2 status were assessed using random-effect pair-wise meta-analysis. Random-effect single-arm meta-analyses were performed to assess HER2 discordance and the prevalence of positive and negative conversion. A significantly lower discordance rate in HER2 status between primary tumors and corresponding metastases was observed using a strict vs. broad definition of HER2 status (RR = 0.58, 95%CI 0.41-0.82), with a pooled discordance rate of 6.2% and 12.2%, respectively. Using the strict definition of HER2 assessment pooled overall discordance was 7% (95%CI 5-10%). The lowest discordance rates between primary tumors and corresponding metastasis are observed when using a strict method of HER2 positivity. Treatment outcomes of different studies will be better comparable if selection of eligible patients for HER2 targeted therapy is based on this strict definition.