title: The impact of clinical and sociodemographic features on quality of life in patients with early stage cancers using the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General assessment tool.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study aims to compare the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General (FACT-G) quality of life (QOL) scores of patient groups with varying clinical and sociodemographic features in the early stage cancer population.
  
  
  METHODS
  A literature search was conducted on both the Embase and OvidSP platforms. Weighted analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed for binary predictors and weighted linear regression analysis was conducted for continuous predictors.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Six binary features predicted at least one domain of QOL: primary cancer site (homogeneous versus heterogeneous), total per capita healthcare expenditures, mean age, previous chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and previous hormonal therapy. Two continuous factors had predictive value with respect to QOL: completion of postsecondary education and marital status.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although there are limitations of the current study, similar correlations to our own have been previously described between QOL and healthcare expenditures, mean age and education. Currently, the literature conflicts in its analysis of previous radiotherapy and chemotherapy as predictors of QOL. No published evidence exists describing the presently found relationships in primary cancer site, marital status and hormonal therapy. Future work may focus on determining cause and effect relationships between these predictors and QOL.
authors.affiliation: Rapid Response Radiotherapy Program, Department of Radiation Oncology, Odette Cancer Centre, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Marko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Popovic
authors.forename: Nicholas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Lao
authors.forename: Liang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zeng
authors.forename: Liying
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Cella
authors.forename: Jennifer L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Beaumont
authors.forename: Ronald
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Chow
authors.forename: Nicholas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Chiu
authors.forename: Leonard
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chiu
authors.forename: Henry
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lam
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Poon
authors.forename: Edward
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Chow
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology*; D011788:Quality of Life; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors