4. EORTC QLQ-C30

HRQOL was assessed using the EORTC QLQ-C30 Core questionnaire (ver. 3.0). The EORTC QLQ-C30 is a cancer-specific 30-item questionnaire [17]. It includes five functional scales (physical, role, cognitive, emotional, and social), eight symptom scales (fatigue, pain, nausea and vomiting, dyspnea, insomnia, appetite loss, constipation, and diarrhea), a financial scale, and a global health scale. All items have response categories with four levels, from “not at all” to “very much,” except the two items of the global health scale (overall physical condition and for overall quality of life), which use seven-point items ranging from “very poor” to “excellent.” High-scale scores present a high-response level, with high-functional scale scores representing high/healthy levels of functioning, and high scores for symptoms scales/items representing high levels of symptomatology/problems.