MDASI Lung Cancer Module
The MD Anderson Symptom Inventory for lung cancer (MDASI-LC) is a disease-specific module. Use the MDASI-LC to assess the severity of symptoms experienced by patients with lung cancer and the interference with daily living caused by these symptoms.
Along with the core MDASI’s 13 symptom items and 6 interference items, the MDASI-LC also assesses 3 symptoms specific to lung cancer.
| Core MDASI Symptoms | Lung Cancer Symptoms | MDASI Interference |
|---|---|---|
| Pain | Coughing | Relations with other people |
| Fatigue | Constipation | Enjoyment of life |
| Nausea | Sore throat | Mood |
| Disturbed sleep | Walking | |
| Distress (feeling upset) | Activity | |
| Shortness of breath | Work (including housework) | |
| Difficulty remembering | ||
| Lack of appetite | ||
| Drowsiness | ||
| Dry mouth | ||
| Sadness | ||
| Vomiting | ||
| Numbness/tingling |
Order the MDASI-LC
Use our convenient online form to order the MDASI-LC for use in your clinical research, clinical practice, funded and non-funded academic research, commercial research, or reproduction in educational materials or other publications.
MDASI-LC Features
- Purpose: To assess the severity of multiple lung cancer-related symptoms and the impact of these symptoms on daily functioning
- Population: Patients with symptoms caused by lung cancer and its treatment
- Assessment areas: Severity of multiple symptoms and the impact of symptoms on daily functioning during the last 24 hours
- Method: Self-report or interview with research staff; paper-and-pencil or electronic data entry*
- Time required: Five minutes or less
- Scoring: Please see the MDASI User Guide
- Reliability: Cronbach alpha reliability ranges from 0.88 to 0.91
*Electronic data capture offers several benefits:
- Allows symptom monitoring when the patient is away from the hospital
- Is convenient for patients, who can choose web access, personalized patient portals, or smartphones to access questionnaires
- Minimizes missing data, especially in longitudinal studies
- Provides accurate, real-time symptom data at expected time points
- Generates immediate feedback, potentially allowing caregivers to address severe symptoms more effectively
MDASI-LC Language Versions
Click on a linked language to view a sample in PDF format.
Don't see a language you need? Contact us at symptomresearch@mdanderson.org.
| Psychometrically and Linguistically Validated | Linguistically Validated |
|---|---|
| English | Arabic |
| Chinese (Simplified) | |
| Chinese (Traditional) | |
| Dutch | |
| French | |
| German | |
| Greek | |
| Hebrew | |
| Hungarian | |
| Italian | |
| Japanese | |
| Korean | |
| Polish | |
| Portuguese (Brazil) |
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| Romanian | |
| Russian | |
| Serbian | |
| Spanish | |
| Turkish | |
| Ukrainian |
MDASI User Guide
In response to the US Food and Drug Administration's 2009 guidance for the pharmaceutical industry on the use of patient-reported outcomes measures in medical product development to support labeling claims, we have prepared a MDASI User Guide to document the development and psychometric properties of the MDASI and its modules. The User Guide addresses the recommendations in the FDA guidance and establishes the MDASI's adequacy as a measure to support medical product claims.
Selected MDASI-LC References
Validation
Whisenant MS, Williams LA, Garcia Gonzalez A, et al. What do patients with non-small-cell lung cancer experience? Content domain for the MD Anderson Symptom Inventory for lung cancer. JCO Oncol Pract 16(10):e1151-e1160, 2020.
Mendoza TR, Wang XS, Lu C, et al. Measuring the symptom burden of lung cancer: the validity and utility of the lung cancer module of the M. D. Anderson Symptom Inventory. Oncologist 16(2):217-227, 2011.
Cleeland CS, Mendoza TR, Wang XS, et al. Assessing symptom distress in cancer: the M. D. Anderson Symptom Inventory. Cancer 89:1634-1646, 2000.
Clinical Application
Deng Y, Hu H, Jia R, et al. Patient-reported outcome (PRO)-based symptom assessment in patients with advanced lung cancer receiving first-line combination immunotherapy: a protocol for a multicenter, prospective, observational study. BMC Pulm Med 23(1):176, 2023.
Tang L, Yu H, Dai W, et al. Symptom trajectories informing patient care after lung cancer surgery: a longitudinal patient-reported outcome study. Ann Surg Oncol 30(5):2607-2617, 2023.
Walker MS, Wong W, Ravelo A, et al. Effect of brain metastasis on patient-reported outcomes in advanced NSCLC treated in real-world community oncology settings. Clin Lung Cancer 19(2):139-147, 2018.
Wang XS, Shi Q, Lu C, et al. Prognostic value of symptom burden for overall survival in patients receiving chemotherapy for advanced nonsmall cell lung cancer. Cancer 116(1): 137-145, 2010.
Methodology
Luo Y, Luo J, Su Q, et al. Exploring central and bridge symptoms in patients with lung cancer: a network analysis. Semin Oncol Nurs 3:151651, 2024.
Dai W, Xie S, Zhang R, et al. Developing and validating utility parameters to establish patient-reported outcome-based perioperative symptom management in patients with lung cancer: a multicentre, prospective, observational cohort study protocol. BMJ Open 9(10):e030726, 2019.
Every MDASI module contains:
all 13 MDASI core symptoms...
pain, fatigue, nausea, disturbed sleep, distress, shortness of breath, difficulty remembering, lack of appetite, drowsiness, dry mouth, sadness, vomiting, numbness/tingling
...and all 6 MDASI interference items
general activity, mood, work, relations with others, walking, enjoyment of life
The symptoms included in the MDASI-LC are vital components of the content domain of a symptom burden measure for patients with non-small cell lung cancer. The presence of these symptoms affect daily life and is, therefore, of clinical consequence.
Meagan Whisenant, Ph.D., RN
Assistant Professor, Behavioral Science