The Cancer Survival and Quality of Life Study (CSQS)

Project investigators:

Anselm Hennis (CDRC), Lynda Williams (CDRC), Celia Greaves (CDRC), Nastassia Rambarran (CDRC), Ian Hambleton (CDRC)

Project Personnel:

Rachel Harris (CDRC), Pissamai Maul (CDRC), Wendy Browne (CDRC), Shirley Reeves (CDRC), Helen Hackett (CDRC).

Funding:

Funding for this project is from the Barbados Ministry of Health (US $ 125,000).

Background and Aims:

The Cancer Survival and Quality of Life (CSQS) study is built onto the BNCS, the national case-control study investigating breast and prostate cancer in Barbados (see details in section 1.2.2 above). Five years have passed since the first year of recruitment of breast and prostate cancer cases took place in 2002-2003. The 5-year time period for survival has been traditionally considered an important marker of health care outcome and an indicator of treatment ‘success‘. This measure is also important for the comparison of Barbados‘ standards of cancer care with those standards achieved internationally. The CSQS will also interview survivors of both cancers, who participated in the BNCS, in order to examine the impact of breast and prostate cancer on quality of life (QoL) when compared to persons of similar age and sex not affected by these diseases. The impact of cancer-specific therapy on the quality of life of breast and prostate cancer survivors will also be estimated.

Methodology:

The CSQS investigates five-year survival in men with prostate cancer and women with breast cancer using the data-gathering procedures from the BNR to gather follow-up information on BNCS participants for the first description of cancer outcomes in Barbados. These outcome endpoints will then be combined with baseline demographic, environment, and genetic information for the exploration of outcome risk factors.

Progress and future plans:

The CSQS began in April 2009 and to date the protocols and standard operating procedures for the study have been developed. Ethical approval for research on human subjects has been sought and verbally granted with certification to follow. Instruments for the collection of breast and prostate cancer mortality data have been developed. A pilot of the methods for data collection from the national register of deaths at the Supreme Court has also been completed and data collection is currently ongoing. Questionnaires for the QoL aspect of the study are being developed. Training of staff for data collection with the QoL instrument will commence in April 2010, and it is anticipated that the data collection phase will continue through March 2012.