title: Long-term health-related quality of life following surgery for lung cancer.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of the study was to examine the long-term health-related quality of life following surgery for lung cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  We performed a prospective population-based cohort study to explore health-related quality of life after lung surgery. We used a validated quality-of-life instrument (Short Form-36 (SF-36)) to gather information on health-related quality of life at baseline, 6 months, and 2 years after surgery. The main outcome measures were the SF-36 physical component summary (PCS) and mental component summary (MCS) scores.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Between 2006 and 2008, 249 patients were included. The response rate at 6 months was 85% and, at 2 years of follow-up, was 95%. The study population consisted of 166 patients who completed all three SF-36 questionnaires. The PCS score decreased from baseline to 6 months (47.4 vs 41.1; p < 0.001) and remained unchanged at the 2-year follow-up (41.1 vs 41.4). The MCS score increased from baseline to 6 months (40.5 vs 44.6; p = 0.001), with a further improvement at 2 years (44.6 vs 46.9; p = 0.005). At 2-year follow-up, both the PCS score and the MCS score of the study population were lower than that of an age- and gender-matched reference population (41.4 vs 44.0; p = 0.013 and 46.9 vs 50.6; p = 0.01).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We found that patients undergoing surgery for lung cancer had an early decrease in the physical aspect of health-related quality of life at 6 months after surgery, which was still present at 2 years of follow-up. A moderate clinically relevant improvement was noted in the mental aspect at 6 months and further improvement was reported at 2 years of follow-up.
authors: Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors: Axel
authors: A
authors: Möller
authors: Ulrik
authors: U
authors: Sartipy
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation / Q000601:surgery*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011013:Pneumonectomy / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D011594:Psychometrics; D011788:Quality of Life; D012737:Sex Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome