TITLE:
Εvaluation of Health-Related Quality of Life in Lung Cancer Patients in Greece and Associations with Demographic and Medical Characteristics
AUTHORS:
Constantinos Togas, George Alexias, Fotios Anagnostopoulos
KEYWORDS:
Lung Cancer, HRQOL, Demographic Characteristics, Medical Characteristics, EORTC-QLQ-C30
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Biosciences and Medicines,
Vol.7 No.10,
October
9,
2019
ABSTRACT: Lung cancer is a common type of cancer. The aim of this study was to examine Health-Related Quality of Life (ΗRQOL) in lung cancer patients and the demographic/medical characteristics that are related to it. A cross-sectional study was conducted in “Sotiria” Chest Diseases Hospital, Greece, with a sample of 200 lung cancer patients. Patients completed a composite questionnaire including demographic/medical information, EORTC-QLQ-C30 and ΕΟRTC-QLQ-LC13. The duration of the study was 17 months (April 2014 to August 2015). SPSS v.25 was used for the analysis of data. Mean age was 68.5 years, 70.5% were men, 81% were married, 84% had Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) and 16% had Small Cell Lung Cancer (SCLC). Patients evaluated their ΗRQOL as moderate (Μ = 51.71). The predominant symptoms were fatigue, pain, dyspnoea, insomnia, and appetite loss. Most of the symptoms were negatively correlated with the functional scales of EORTC-QLQ-C30. Better perceived health and ΗRQOL were related to the absence of recurrence and higher educational level. All functional scales were significantly affected by recurrence. Gender, income status, metastases, information about the diagnosis and months elapsed since diagnosis significantly affected only some functional scales. These results can be used to identify patients at high risk for having poor HRQOL and to improve their therapy plan. Future research is suggested, in order to further investigate and clarify the study’s results.