Emotional functioning to screen for psychological distress in breast and colorectal cancer patients prior to adjuvant treatment initiation

INTRODUCTION: The objective was to analyze the usefulness of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire (EORTC-QLQ-C30) EF subscale to detect emotional problems in patients with breast (BC) and colorectal cancer (CRC). METHODS: A prospective, observational, cross-sectional study was conducted. Participants completed the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) and EORTC-QLQ-C30. The following psychometric properties were calculated: accuracy, sensitivity, positive predictive value, specificity and negative predictive value. RESULTS: The sample analyzed included 445 patients: 202 with BC and 243 with CRC. In total, 129 BC patients (64%) and 104 CRC patients (43%) suffered psychological distress according to the BSI. The accuracy of EORTC-QLQ-C30 EF in detecting psychological distress was 77% and 82% in BC and CRC respectively. Specificity rates for BC and CRC were 81% and 82%, and sensitivity was 75% and 82% respectively. Positive predictive value was 87% and 77%, and negative predictive value was 65% and 86% in BC and CRC respectively. The mean AUC for BC was 0.83 and 0.88 for CRC. CONCLUSIONS: The EORTC-QLQ-C30 EF is useful for rapid screening. The systematic application of this scale would allow patients with cancer and emotional problems to be easily identified in clinical practice.