Purpose of the Scale

The goal of the MDASI-19 (MD Anderson Symptom Inventory) is to record and assess the symptoms experienced by a patient and evaluate how much these symptoms impact their daily life.

Questionnaire Analysis

The MDASI-19 was developed by Cleeland and colleagues in 2000. It consists of:
13 core symptom items, and
6 interference items, which assess the degree to which symptoms interfere with the individual’s daily functioning.
Scoring and Statistical Analysis
Scoring is based on an 11-point scale:
For the 13 symptom items, patients rate each symptom from 0 (the symptom was not present) to 10 (the worst possible severity in the past 24 hours).
For the 6 interference items, patients rate the degree of interference from 0 (did not interfere) to 10 (completely interfered) in the past 24 hours.
A higher score on the symptom scale indicates greater symptom burden.

Validity and Reliability

The MDASI-19 demonstrates good validity and reliability, with a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.85. It has also been translated into Greek and validated by Mystakidou et al. (2004).

References

Cleeland, C. S., Mendoza, T. R., Wang, X. S., Chou, C., Harle, M. T., Morrissey, M., & Engstrom, M. C. (2000). Assessing symptom distress in cancer patients: the MD Anderson Symptom Inventory. Cancer, 89(7), 1634–1646.
Mott, F. E., Sacks, R., Johnson, F., Hutcheson, K. A., Gallagher, N., Varghese, S., & Zaveri, J. (2020). Subjective functional outcomes in oropharyngeal cancer treated with induction chemotherapy using the MD Anderson Symptom Inventory (MDASI). Laryngoscope Investigative Otolaryngology, 5(6), 1104–1109.
Mystakidou, K., Cleeland, C., Tsilika, E., Katsouda, E., Primikiri, A., Parpa, E., … & Mendoza, T. (2004). Greek MD Anderson Symptom Inventory: validation and utility in cancer patients. Oncology, 67(3–4), 203–210.