AUTHOR=Lecat Catherine S. Y. , Bristogiannis Sotirios , Mehta Dipal , Lwin Yadanar , Land Joanne , McCourt Orla , Dowling Emma , Correia Nuno , Rabin Neil K. , Xu Ke , Sive Jonathan , Papanikolaou Xenofon , Popat Rakesh , Lee Lydia , McMillan Annabel , Boyle Eileen M. , Yong Kwee , Kyriakou Charalampia 

TITLE=Current quality of life questionnaires are not relevant for assessing QOL issues in multiple myeloma patients in the era of modern therapies: results from a survey with myeloma patients and myeloma healthcare professionals

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Oncology

VOLUME=Volume 15 - 2025

YEAR=2025

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/oncology/articles/10.3389/fonc.2025.1656912

DOI=10.3389/fonc.2025.1656912

ISSN=2234-943X

ABSTRACT=As multiple myeloma (MM) patients live longer, maintaining quality of life (QOL) has become an important treatment goal. However, the commonly used general quality of life questionnaires (QOLQs) were developed over 20 years ago. In this survey, 224 MM patients and 48 healthcare professionals (HCPs) were asked to grade the relevance and importance of QOL items from 9 validated, frequently used MM QOLQs. The results from this survey highlighted significant discrepancy between MM patients’ and HCPs’ perception of important and relevant QOL issues. Whilst MM HCPs found all QOL items relevant, the patients reported a proportion of these items being relevant. These were mainly related to physical functioning, social/family wellbeing, pain and fatigue. This real-world survey stressed the need for the development of an updated QOLQ that is relevant to patients and current MM therapies.