• Bello Arkilla Magaji, Foong Ming Moy, April Camilla Roslani, Chee Wei Law, and Ismail Sagap.
• Julius Centre University of Malaya, Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaya E-mail : drmagaji@siswa.um.edu.my, mbarkilla@gmail.com.
• Asian Pac. J. Cancer Prev. 2015 Jan 1; 16 (18): 8107-12.

Background And AimsColorectal cancer is the second most frequent cancer in Malaysia. We aimed to assess the validity and reliability of the Malaysian Chinese version of European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) Quality of Life Questionnaire core (QLQ-C30) in patients with colorectal cancer.Materials And MethodsTranslated versions of the QLQ-C30 were obtained from the EORTC. A cross sectional study design was used to obtain data from patients receiving treatment at two teaching hospitals in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The Malaysian Chinese version of QLQ-C30 was self-administered in 96 patients while the Karnofsky Performance Scales (KPS) was generated by attending surgeons. Statistical analysis included reliability, convergent, discriminate validity, and known-groups comparisons. Statistical significance was based on p value ≤0.05.ResultsThe internal consistencies of the Malaysian Chinese version were acceptable [Cronbach's alpha (α≥ 0.70)] in the global health status/overall quality of life (GHS/QOL), functioning scales except cognitive scale (α≤0.32) in all levels of analysis, and social/family functioning scale (α=0.63) in patients without a stoma. All questionnaire items fulfilled the criteria for convergent and discriminant validity except question number 5, with correlation with role (r = 0.62) and social/family (r = 0.41) functioning higher than with physical functioning scales (r = 0.34). The test-retest coefficients in the GHS/QOL, functioning scales and in most of the symptoms scales were moderate to high (r = 0.58 to 1.00). Patients with a stoma reported statistically significant lower physical functioning (p=0.015), social/family functioning (p=0.013), and higher constipation (p=0.010) and financial difficulty (p=0.037) compared to patients without stoma. There was no significant difference between patients with high and low KPS scores.ConclusionsMalaysian Chinese version of the QLQ-C30 is a valid and reliable measure of HRQOL in patients with colorectal cancer.

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