title: Health-related quality of life in cancer patients between baseline and a three-year follow-up.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of the study was to identify health-related quality of life (QOL) in persons diagnosed with cancer and to determine differences between the QOL over a 3-year period.
  
  
  METHODS
  We investigated the QOL in cancer patients at baseline and 3 years later using the EORTC QLQ-C30 (European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire-Core 30) and the ECOG (Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group) Performance Status. Initially 216 participants (85 women, 131 men) were enrolled, and at the 3-year follow-up there were 126 (52 women, 74 men).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Scores on the function and symptom scales changed significantly between the baseline and the 3-year follow-up. Physical, role, and social functions improved, whereas problems with constipation worsened. The global QOL of the participants at the 3-year follow-up was lower than that of baseline, but it was not statistically significant. The QOL in cancer patients improved from the baseline to the 3-year follow-up.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results could serve as a guideline for nurses interpreting the perspective of QOL in their own groups of patients, and improve the understanding of the significance of mean QOL scores and develop nursing interventions in the future.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Nursing Science, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, 50 Ilwon-Dong, Gangnam-Gu, Seoul 135-710, Republic of Korea. ingak.kwon@samsung.com
authors.forename: In Gak
authors.initials: IG
authors.lastname: Kwon
authors.forename: Eunjung
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ryu
authors.forename: Gie Ok
authors.initials: GO
authors.lastname: Noh
authors.forename: Yung Hee
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Sung
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011788:Quality of Life; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome