Symptom burden and life challenges reported by adult chordoma patients and their caregivers

PURPOSE: This study aims to characterize the symptom burden and life challenges that chordoma patients and their caregivers experience. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, we analyzed data from the Chordoma Foundation online community survey conducted in 2014. Frequency counts and percentages were calculated to determine the prevalence of self-reported symptoms and life challenges in the sample. We used Fisher’s exact test to compare self-reported symptoms among subgroups with different disease status, tumor locations, and treatments received. RESULTS: Among the survey participants, 358 identified themselves as chordoma patients and 202 as caregivers. The majority of the patients were over 45 years (72%), male (56%), educated beyond high school degree (87%), and from North America (77%). Skull base was the most prevalent tumor location (40%). Chronic pain (35%) was the most commonly reported symptom followed by depression or severe anxiety (32%) and chronic fatigue (31%). Among patients, the most commonly reported challenges included delayed care (37%), long-term disability (33%), and confusion or unanswered questions about chordoma (28%). For caregivers, grief (55%), delayed diagnosis (47%), and difficulty helping the patient cope with his or her disease (45%) were most common. CONCLUSIONS: Our study findings suggest a high symptom burden and life challenges among chordoma patients and their caregivers. This study provides preliminary, limited estimates of the prevalence of a wide range of self-reported symptoms and challenges that will inform the assessment of patient-reported outcomes in future clinical trials and help clinicians better manage chordoma patients’ symptoms. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s11136-017-1544-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.