Patient-reported quality of life and symptom burden measures in human papillomavirus associated oropharyngeal cancer – A review of the literature and PRO methodology

Abstract

The emergence of human papillomavirus-associated oropharyngeal cancer (HPVOPC) has resulted in an explosion of clinical research offering reduced toxicity and improved health-related quality of life (HRQL) through treatment de-escalation. At the heart of this objective are patient-reported outcomes (PROs) which aim to quantify the patient experience, usually through the measurement of HRQL or symptom burden. A number of PRO measures (PROMs) are available to HNC researchers and selection of the optimal instrument relies on a detailed understanding of their content and psychometric properties matched to the clinical endpoint of interest. As PROMs become increasingly favoured as the primary or ..