Quality of Life in Chordoma Co-Survivors: Results from the Chordoma Foundation Survivorship Survey

Jimenez, Adrian E.; Cicalese, Kyle V; Jimenez, Miguel A.; Chakravarti, Sachiv; Kuo, Cathleen C.; Lozinsky, Shannon; Schwab, Joseph H.; Knowlton, Sasha E.; Rowan, Nicholas R.; Mukherjee, Debraj

doi:10.1016/j.wneu.2023.03.022

Cited by 1 publication

(2 citation statements)

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“…The results of the cosurvivor respondents were published in a separate study given the volume of responses and accompanying statistical analysis and discussion. 12 The survey was open from July 1, 2020, to September 30, 2021, and received 1587 unique pageviews.…”

Section: Survey Construction and Distributionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…3,9,10 More recently, there has been increased interest regarding the importance of quality of life (QOL) outcomes in the setting of chordoma management. 6,8,[11][12][13][14][15] This focus on QOL is especially relevant for chordoma patients given that treatments may involve extensive surgery, often accompanied by adjuvant therapies, which can cause devastating morbidity and toxicity. 11,16 Despite a growing appreciation for QOL issues among chordoma survivors and caretakers (i.e., cosurvivors), there has been limited research characterizing which specific chordoma patient subpopulations may be at higher risk of poor QOL outcomes.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Quality of life in chordoma survivors: results from the Chordoma Foundation Survivorship Survey

Jimenez,

Cicalese,

Jimenez

et al. 2024

Neurosurgical Focus

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OBJECTIVE Chordomas are rare malignant bone tumors whose location in the skull base or spine, invasive surgical treatment, and accompanying adjuvant radiotherapy may all lead patients to experience poor quality of life (QOL). Limited research has been conducted on specific demographic and clinical factors associated with decreased QOL in chordoma survivors. Thus, the aim of the present study was to investigate several potential variables and their impact on specific QOL domains in these patients as well the frequencies of specific QOL challenges within these domains. METHODS The Chordoma Foundation (CF) Survivorship Survey was electronically distributed to chordoma survivors subscribed to the CF Chordoma Connections forum. Survey questions assessed QOL in three domains: physical, emotional/cognitive, and social. The degree of impairment was assessed by grouping the participants into high- and low-challenge groups designated by having ≥ 5 or < 5 symptoms or challenges within a given QOL domain. Bivariate analysis of demographic and clinical characteristics between these groups was conducted using Fisher’s exact test and the Mann-Whitney U-test. RESULTS A total of 665 chordoma survivors at least partially completed the survey. On bivariate analysis, female sex was significantly associated with increased odds of significant emotional (p = 0.001) and social (p = 0.019) QOL burden. Younger survivors (age < 65 years) were significantly more likely to experience significant physical (p < 0.0001), emotional (p < 0.0001), and social (p < 0.0001) QOL burden. Skull base chordoma survivors had significantly higher emotional/cognitive QOL burden than spinal chordoma survivors (p = 0.022), while the converse was true for social QOL challenges (p = 0.0048). Survivors currently in treatment were significantly more likely to experience significant physical QOL challenges compared with survivors who completed their treatment > 10 years ago (p = 0.0074). Fear of cancer recurrence (FCR) was the most commonly reported emotional/cognitive QOL challenge (49.6%). Only 41% of the participants reported having their needs met for their physical QOL challenges as well as 25% for emotional/cognitive and 18% for social. CONCLUSIONS The authors’ findings suggest that younger survivors, female survivors, and survivors currently undergoing treatment for chordoma are at high risk for adverse QOL outcomes. Additionally, although nearly half of the participants reported a FCR, very few reported having adequate emotional/cognitive care. These findings may be useful in identifying specific groups of chordoma survivors vulnerable to QOL challenges and bring to light the need to expand care to meet the QOL needs for these patients.

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Section: Survey Construction and Distributionmentioning

confidence: 99%