Longitudinal validation and comparison of the Chinese version of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life-Chemotherapy-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy Questionnaire (EORTC QLQ-CIPN20) and the Functional Assessment of Cancer-Gynecologic Oncology Group-Neurotoxicity subscale (FACT/GOG-Ntx)

Aim: To validate and compare the Chinese version of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life-Chemotherapy-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy Questionnaire (EORTC QLQ-CIPN20) and the Functional Assessment of Cancer-Gynecologic Oncology Group-Neurotoxicity subscale (FACT/GOG-Ntx) for measuring chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) in cancer patients. Methods: Patients were assessed with the EORTC QLQ-CIPN20, FACT/GOG-Ntx, National Cancer Institute-Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (NCI-CTCAE) and World Health Organization criterion of CIPN (WHO-CIPN) from baseline up to 10 assessment points. Internal consistency reliability, convergent validity, discriminant validity and responsiveness of the EORTC QLQ-CIPN20 and FACT/GOG-Ntx were evaluated, respectively. Correlation and regression analysis were used to examine the relationships between these two scales. Results: Internal reliability coefficients for both scales were above 0.80 across all assessment points. Moderate correlations of the two scales were found with WHO-CIPN (r _s  = 0.40–0.44; r _s  = –0.42 to –0.46, all P < 0.05) and NCI-CTCAE (r _s  = 0.46–0.57; r _s  = –0.44 to –0.55, all P < 0.01) at most assessment points. Older patients reported significantly more CIPN symptoms than younger counterparts did (P < 0.05). The hypothesized factor structures of both scales were not confirmed (χ2/df = 3.70–7.01; χ2/df = 2.14–10.43, all P < 0.001). Both scales demonstrated responsiveness with small-to-moderate effect size (r = 0.09–0.46, r = 0.11–0.35). The two scales were highly correlated and were predicted by all domains of each other at specific assessment points (R ²  = 0.62–0.87; R ²  = 0.76–0.85; respectively, all P < 0.001). Conclusion: The Chinese version of the EORTC QLQ-CIPN20 and FACT/GOG-Ntx demonstrated acceptable reliability, validity and responsiveness and was found comparable in measuring CIPN among Chinese cancer patients at specific assessment points.