The assessment of health-related quality of life and related factors in Chinese elderly patients undergoing chemotherapy for advanced cancer: a cross-sectional study.
OBJECTIVE
(i) To assess the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and analyse the potential contributing factors of HRQOL in elderly cancer patients in China; and (ii) to evaluate the possible correlation between the Medical Outcomes 36-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) and the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer, quality of life questionnaire (EORTC QLQ-C30).


METHODS
A total of 109 elderly patients undergoing chemotherapy with advanced cancer completed a survey assessing HRQOL, anxiety and depression. HRQOL was measured by SF-36 and EORTC QLQ-C30. Anxiety and depression, was measured by the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS).


RESULTS
Scales pertaining to role functioning, including SF-36 role physical (25.92 ± 37.10) and role emotional (36.12 ± 43.50), EORTC QLQ-C30 role functioning (46.94 ± 36.86), were the worst domains of SF-36 and EORTC QLQ-C30 respectively. Financial impact (55.77 ± 36.55) and fatigue (46.18 ± 26.48) were the top two highest scores among all nine symptom-related scales of EORTC QLQ C-30. The correlation matrix of SF-36 versus EORTC QLQ-C30 showed that, in general, there was good correlation between scales pertaining to the same health domain, and low correlation was observed between scales pertaining to different domains.


CONCLUSIONS
The findings of this study highlight role functioning, financial impact, fatigue, anxiety, and depression as areas where elderly cancer patients could most benefit from intervention. These findings also call attention to HRQOL and its related factors in elderly cancer patients. Interventions to be developed for improving HRQOL in cancer patients are highly recommended.
Department of Health Statistics, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, China; Wuxi Medical School, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, China.
Qiuping
Q
Li
Wuxi Medical School, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, China.
Yi
Y
Lin
Wuxi Medical School, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, China.
Yuyu
Y
Qiu
Institute of Orthopedic Surgery, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, China.
Bo
B
Gao
Department of Health Statistics, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, China. Electronic address: xuyongy66@163.com.
Yongyong
Y
Xu
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001007:Anxiety / Q000453:epidemiology; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D015897:Comorbidity; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005221:Fatigue / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D011594:Psychometrics; D011788:Quality of Life; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D019452:Terminally Ill / Q000523:psychology*
Advanced cancer; Anxiety; Chemotherapy; Depression; EORTC QLQ-C30; Health-related quality of life; SF-36