Health-Related Quality of Life of Bone and Soft-Tissue Tumor Patients around the Time of Diagnosis

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Bone and soft-tissue tumor patients experience long-lasting physical and psychological challenges. However, it is unknown what health-related quality of life (HRQoL) challenges patients experience around the time of diagnosis and which group of patients are particularly affected. This study assessed the HRQoL of 637 patients around the time of diagnosis and compared their HRQoL scores to the general population. Overall, patients experienced increased levels of anxiety and pain and limitations in physical and social functioning compared to the general population. The increased level of pain and the limitation in physical functioning were clinically relevant. HRQoL differed between diagnosis subgroups: i.e., patients with malignant tumors experienced higher anxiety levels and pain, whereas patients with bone tumors had worse physical functioning compared with the general population. This indicates that the HRQoL is already affected around the time of diagnosis and should be taken into account to improve the quality of care delivered. ABSTRACT: Background: Bone and soft-tissue tumor patients experience long-lasting physical and psychological challenges. It is unknown to what extent Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) is already affected during the diagnostic process. This study assesses the HRQoL of bone and soft-tissue tumor patients around time of diagnosis and explores which patient or tumor characteristics are associated with a reduced HRQoL. Methods: All patients with a suspected benign/malignant bone tumor (BT), benign soft-tissue tumor (STT), or malignant soft-tissue sarcoma (STS) visiting the Leiden University Medical Center between 2016 and 2020 were invited to complete the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) 29-item profile questionnaire. Mean scores of all included patients and per diagnosis group were compared to mean scores of the general population using one-sample t-tests. Results: Overall, patients (n = 637) reported statistically significantly worse HRQoL-scores on anxiety (51.3 ± 9.6), pain (55.3 ± 10.1), physical functioning (46.0 ± 9.7), and social functioning (48.1 ± 10.8) with the difference in pain and physical functioning being clinically relevant (based on a 3-point difference on t-metric). HRQoL-scores differed between diagnosis subgroups, i.e., patients with malignant tumors had higher anxiety levels and experienced more pain, where patients with bone tumors had worse physical functioning. Conclusion: The HRQoL of patients with suspected bone and soft-tissue tumors is already affected during the diagnostic process.