Quality of life in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma received surgical resection.
BACKGROUND
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one the most common malignancies in the world. As the prognosis for HCC patients is poor, the quality of life (QOL) is becoming more important on the outcome assessments. The aim of this study was to evaluate QOL in HCC patients.


METHODS
A total of 161 patients with HCC were enrolled at a university hospital. Most of these patients received surgical resections. They were assessed with Taiwan versions of WHOQOL-BREF, EORTC QLQ-C30, and utility measures. The WHOQOL-BREF domain scores for the HCC patients were compared to healthy normative Taiwan population, using general linear models controlling for gender and age. Multiple logistic regressions were applied to explore association between a better QOL and clinical/sociodemographic variables.


RESULTS
Compared with healthy people, the HCC patients had reduced QOL in physical domains, but better environmental QOL. After controlling gender, age, education, and employment, duration of HCC more than 1 year was associated with better QOL scores. WHOQOL-BREF could be cross-validated with EORTC QLQ-C30.


CONCLUSIONS
Survival over 1 year was associated with better QOL in HCC patients. WHOQOL-BREF could be a valid QOL instrument for the assessments of QOL in HCC patients.
Lee
Lukas Jyuhn-Hsiarn
LJ
Department of Neurology, National Taiwan University Hospital and National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan.
Chen
Chien-Hung
CH
Yao
Grace
G
Chung
Chih-Wen
CW
Sheu
Jin-Chuan
JC
Lee
Po-Huang
PH
Tsai
Yih-Jian
YJ
Wang
Jung-Der
JD
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000401:mortality / Q000523:psychology* / Q000601:surgery*; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006498:Hepatectomy; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000523:psychology* / Q000601:surgery*; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011788:Quality of Life; D015203:Reproducibility of Results