The population of new ANHL patients is heterogeneous in terms of their biological parameters and the IPI scoring system is widely used to make the disease prognosis. Recently heterogeneity of ANHL patients in terms of their QoL has been shown. There are four groups of patients with the following grades of QoL impairment: none, mild, significant, and critical impairment. We aimed to study the distribution of new ANHL patients according to the grades of QoL impairment and to identify the relationship between the QoL impairment groups and the IPI groups.

73 new aggressive NHL lymphoma patients (Stage IIB-IV, mean age 55.2 SD=17.6, males/females – 39/34) were involved in this study. QoL assessment was conducted before treatment using SF-36. The method of integral profiles was used to calculate the integral QoL index (IQLI). Patients were stratified using IQLI. Gamma correlation between ranges of QoL impairment groups and IPI groups was used.

The following distribution of ANHL patients was demonstrated on the basis of different grades of QoL impairment: 9% - no impairment (IQLI - 0.6); 12% - mild impairment (0.3); 24% - significant impairment (0.13); 55% - critical impairment (0.02). The distribution of patients in these groups who were classified as high-intermediate or high risk according to the IPI was 28%, 67%, 83%, and 90%, respectively. High correlation between ranges of QoL impairment groups and IPI groups was observed: Gamma correlation – 0.6 (p<0.05).

In conclusion, aggressive NHL patients are heterogeneous in terms of their QoL. The majority of patients exhibit significant or critical QoL impairment. The higher the grade of QoL impairment, the higher the risk according to the IPI. Stratification of aggressive NHL patients based on IQLI along with the traditional IPI stratification could contribute to the improvement of the prognostic model for this heterogeneous group of lymphoid malignancies.

Topics:
heterogeneity, lymphoid neoplasm, malignant, lymphoma, non-hodgkin's lymphoma, aggressive, quality of life, quality of life assessment, sf-36

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2005, The American Society of Hematology
2005
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