A1172
Title: Evaluating trade-offs in cancer clinical trials: The Q-TWiST method
Authors: Bernard Cole - University of Vermont (United States) [presenting]
Abstract: The quality of life of patients is an important component for the evaluation of therapies in clinical trials. The Quality-adjusted Time Without Symptoms and Toxicity (Q-TWiST) method evaluates treatment trade-offs in clinical trials using an endpoint based on both quantity and quality of life. The methodology has been most useful for evaluating the trade-off between increased toxic side effects of treatment and improved clinical outcome. To date, most applications of the Q-TWiST method have been retrospective; however, its prospective use in clinical trials has been increasing. Key topics include the following: an Overview of the Q-TWiST method with a summary of examples in the cancer literature ranging from early applications to modern usage, Brief descriptions of related statistical tools for regression analysis and meta-analysis, and Techniques for the incorporation of longitudinal and cross-sectional utility and quality-of-life data, including data with informative missingness.
