Quality Of Life: Cancer Survivor Predictor

ROCHESTER, Minn. -- A person's quality of life prior to treatment can help predict the survival of patients with advanced, non-small cell, lung cancer, U.S. researchers said. The study, published in the Journal of Thoracic Oncology, pooled research from six clinical trials -- involving a total of 420 patients with advanced, non-small cell, lung cancer. Dr. Yingwei Qi of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., and colleagues found patients' self-assessment of their pre-treatment quality of life -- measured by the single-item Spitzer Uniscale -- can alone predict overall survival, and that for those with a low score, the risk of death was twice as high as for those with high scores. "With the knowledge that quality of li...