The Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy - Brain (FACT-Br) for assessing quality of life in patients with brain metastases: A comparison of recall periods

To assess the use of the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy - Brain (FACT-Br) to assess quality of life (QOL) in patients with brain metastases based on a recall period of 24 hours by assessing its predictive value of the past seven days. Brain metastases patients were interviewed using the FACT-General (FACT-G) and FACT-Br one week prior to treatment, and completed a follow-up assessment one month post treatment. Patients completed the questionnaires by rating items simultaneously based on the past seven days, as well as the past 24 hours. Forty patients had complete one month follow-up data and were included in the analyses. The median age of patients was 64 years, median Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status (ECOG) was 1, and the median Karnofsky Performance Status (KPS) was 80. Pearson correlations between the FACT-Br subscale scores for the past seven days and past 24 hours were all highly correlated (0.95 or greater). There was no statistically significant difference between the past seven day and past 24 hour subscale scores at both baseline and one month follow-up (p > 0.05). The past 24 hour subscale scores were significantly predictive of the past seven days for all FACT-G and FACT-Br subscales at baseline and one month follow-up. Thus, the FACT-G and FACT-Br can successfully be used to assess QOL based on the past 24 hours in brain metastases patients. Future clinical trials should use a 24 hour recall period for the FACT-G and FACT-Br for patients with poor neurocognitive and/or performance status, or for daily assessments based on the needs of the study.