Table 5

Newly referred cancer patients’ assessments of the EORTC-QLQ-C30 quality of life questionnaire at time 0 and 3 and 6 months after the introduction of the shared care programme

	Time 0					3 months					6 months
	Control		Intervention			Control		Intervention			Control		Intervention
	N	Mean	N	Mean	p value*	N	Mean	N	Mean	p value*	N	Mean	N	Mean	p value*
N=number of patients who answered all index/item questions. Questions with missing values were excluded, so the numbers given here are lower than the numbers from the responders (fig 1).
Mean values are listed. The values did not follow a normal distribution. The first five items show a distribution towards higher numbers (right skewed). The global and fatigue items show a tendency towards a normal distribution. The last indexes/items show a distribution towards lower numbers (left skewed).
The mean measure scores range from 0 to 100. A high score on a functional scale represents a high/healthy level of functioning, a high score on the global health status represents a high quality of life, but a high score on a symptom scale represents a high level of symptoms.
*The Mann-Whitney U test was applied to detect statistical differences between the control and the intervention group. Statistical level of significance 0.05. Asymptote significance (two tailed).
Physical functioning (5 items), role functioning (2 items), emotional functioning (4 items), cognitive functioning (2 items), social functioning (2 items), global health status (2 items), fatigue symptom (3 items), nausea and vomiting (2 items), pain symptom (2 items), dyspnoea (1 item), insomnia (1 item), appetite loss (1 item), constipation (1 item), diarrhoea (1 item). Financial difficulties (1 item).
Functional scales
Physical functioning	111	78.35	101	77.33	0.971	96	82.03	83	80.72	0.804	91	81.32	80	80.92	0.620
Role functioning	109	53.82	100	60.17	0.141	97	69.76	81	72.02	0.554	91	72.71	79	73.42	0.781
Emotional functioning	110	68.26	100	69.00	0.776	97	77.12	83	80.22	0.308	91	78.14	80	75.42	0.665
Cognitive functioning	110	83.94	100	82.00	0.649	97	84.02	83	86.14	0.690	91	84.98	80	81.88	0.357
Social functioning	110	86.36	99	85.69	0.951	97	84.54	83	87.15	0.318	91	83.70	80	84.17	0.744
Global health status
Global health status	109	63.46	98	65.99	0.236	97	69.93	83	70.08	0.782	92	69.11	80	69.79	0.933
Symptom scales/items
Fatigue	111	36.94	101	34.43	0.272	97	35.62	83	30.79	0.177	91	31.14	80	29.31	0.874
Nausea and vomiting	111	7.06	101	7.43	0.987	97	8.59	83	10.44	0.886	92	8.15	80	8.13	0.843
Pain	110	29.24	101	23.43	0.076	97	24.74	83	19.28	0.069	91	21.80	80	19.38	0.345
Dyspnoea	111	9.61	100	15.33	0.040	96	14.58	83	13.25	0.930	92	14.49	80	15.00	0.921
Insomnia	111	32.43	101	26.40	0.113	96	27.43	83	23.29	0.168	92	24.28	80	22.50	0.729
Appetite loss	111	18.92	100	19.00	0.855	97	14.09	83	16.47	0.761	92	15.22	80	15.00	0.591
Constipation	109	12.23	99	12.12	0.677	97	9.97	83	12.05	0.922	91	10.26	80	12.50	0.502
Diarrhoea	108	12.35	98	11.22	0.458	96	13.54	83	12.45	0.587	91	13.55	80	11.25	0.564
Financial difficulties	110	13.94	98	8.84	0.145	97	12.37	82	12.20	0.591	91	16.85	79	11.39	0.110