Caregivers' proxy assessments of health-related quality of life in patients with hematologic malignancies.

Authors

Wei Qin, Fenfang Tong, Cong Zeng, Zhaoxin Qian, Yajing Xu

Published in

Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer. Volume 34. Issue 10. Sep 12, 2026. Epub Sep 12, 2026.

Abstract

Patients with hematologic malignancies are commonly burdened by the disease itself as well as treatment-related side effects, which makes it difficult for them to complete the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) assessments. We aimed to investigate the reliability and influencing factors of caregivers as proxies in measuring HRQoL for patients with hematologic malignancies.
A total of 203 patients with hematologic malignancies and their caregivers were enrolled. Both patients and caregivers independently completed the EuroQol 5-Dimensions 5-Levels (EQ-5D-5L) questionnaire to collect patient self-rated HRQoL and caregiver proxy-rated HRQoL. Additionally, caregivers completed the Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-Item Scale, Patient Health Questionnaire-9, and Family APGAR Index to evaluate their anxiety symptoms, depression symptoms, and perceptions of family functioning.
The caregiver proxy-rated HRQoL exhibited strong correlations with patient self-rated HRQoL, in both EQ-5D-5L utility scores (r = 0.679, P < 0.001) and EQ-5D-5L dimensions (correlation coefficients from 0.518 to 0.695, all P < 0.001). The agreement between caregiver proxy-rated and patient self-rated EQ-5D-5L utility scores was good (ICC = 0.730, 95% CI 0.658-0.788). Exact agreement between caregiver proxy ratings and patient self-ratings ranged from 66.5% to 84.2% across EQ-5D-5L dimensions. Greater anxiety symptoms (r = 0.408, P < 0.001) or depression symptoms (r = 0.288, P < 0.001) among caregivers were significantly associated with their overestimation of patients' symptom burden.
Caregivers may be reliable proxies for assessing HRQoL in patients with hematologic malignancies. However, the anxiety or depression symptoms of caregivers may increase their overestimation in patients' symptom burden.

PMID:
42730812
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 13 Sep 2026.

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