Treating anaemia with epoetin alfa is associated with improvements in quality of life in cancer patients receiving chemotherapy.
Anaemia is an important factor in the fatigue experienced by many patients receiving chemotherapy. A recent large-scale, randomised, placebo-controlled trial has shown that treatment with epoetin alfa raises haemoglobin levels, reduces fatigue and improves overall quality of life (QoL). In order to examine the relationship between anaemia and QoL more closely, we performed multiple regression analyses, adjusting for possible differences in demographic and clinical characteristics between the treatment groups on the trial data derived from FACT, CLAS and SF-36 QoL assessments. This confirmed that QoL is correlated with haemoglobin levels and that treatment with epoetin alfa is associated with a significant improvement in QoL as measured by validated cancer-specific instruments such as FACT and CLAS. However, the sub-group of patients who suffer disease progression during treatment are not predicted to experience an improvement in QoL, confirming the sensitivity of these scales. Race and tumour type were significantly related to changes in QoL scores, but other factors such as age and gender did not show significant effects on QoL.
D000740:Anemia / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000188:drug therapy*; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000009:adverse effects; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D000068817:Epoetin Alfa; D004921:Erythropoietin / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology*; D010919:Placebos; D011788:Quality of Life; D011994:Recombinant Proteins
D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D010919:Placebos; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D004921:Erythropoietin; D000068817:Epoetin Alfa