title: Treatment-related side effects and quality of life in cancer patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Cancer leads to a complicated pattern of change in quality of life (QoL).
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aims of this study were to assess the impact of treatment-related side effects on QoL in cancer patients and to explore which other factors, and to what extent, contribute to explain low QoL scores.
  
  
  METHODS
  One hundred twenty-three cancer patients receiving chemotherapy completed the self-administered questionnaires (Medical Outcomes Short-Form-36 (SF-36) and 12-item General Health Questionnaire). Multiple regression analyses were conducted with the SF-36 physical component summary (PCS) and SF-36 mental component summary (MCS) scores as the dependent variables and demographic and clinical factors as independent variables.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Seventy-two percent of patients experienced treatment-related side effects, and 32% resulted positive for psychiatric diseases. Two multivariate analyses showed that worse PCS scores, like worse MCS scores, were significantly and independently predicted by treatment-related side effects (odds ratio (OR) = 5.00, 95%CI 1.29-19.45; OR = 8.08, 95%CI 2.03-32.22, respectively) and changes in health over the last 12 months (OR =2.34, 95%CI 1.47-3.76; OR = 3.21, 95%CI 1.90-5.41, respectively), after adjustment for age, gender, years of school, time from cancer diagnosis, and psychiatric disease.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Given the new emphasis on QoL, we suggest that physicians have a responsibility to openly discuss therapy efficacy, prognosis as well as the potential for adverse events with their patients. Changes in health, as perceived by patient, should also be monitored at follow-up.
authors.affiliation: Division of Oncology and Dermatological Oncology, Istituto Dermopatico dell'Immacolata, Istituto di Ricerca e Cura a Carattere Scientifico, IDI-IRCCS, Rome, Italy. eva.mazzotti@tiscali.it
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Mazzotti
authors.forename: Gian Carlo
authors.initials: GC
authors.lastname: Antonini Cappellini
authors.forename: Stefania
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Buconovo
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Morese
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Scoppola
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sebastiani
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Marchetti
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy*; D011788:Quality of Life; D012044:Regression Analysis; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents