Dataset Information

Quality of life measurement in women with cervical cancer: implications for Chinese cervical cancer survivors.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Women with cervical cancer now have relatively good 5-year survival rates. Better survival rates have driven the paradigm in cancer care from a medical illness model to a wellness model, which is concerned with the quality of women's lives as well as the length of survival. Thus, the assessment of quality of life among cervical cancer survivors is increasingly paramount for healthcare professionals. The purposes of this review were to describe existing validated quality of life instruments used in cervical cancer survivors, and to reveal the implications of quality of life measurement for Chinese cervical cancer survivors.

Methods

A literature search of five electronic databases was conducted using the terms cervical/cervix cancer, quality of life, survivors, survivorship, measurement, and instruments. Articles published in either English or Chinese from January 2000 to June 2009 were searched. Only those adopting an established quality of life instrument for use in cervical cancer survivors were included.

Results

A total of 11 validated multidimensional quality of life instruments were identified from 41 articles. These instruments could be classified into four categories: generic, cancer-specific, cancer site-specific and cancer survivor-specific instruments. With internal consistency varying from 0.68-0.99, the test-retest reliability ranged from 0.60-0.95 based on the test of the Pearson coefficient. One or more types of validity supported the construct validity. Although all these instruments met the minimum requirements of reliability and validity, the original versions of these instruments were mainly in English.

Conclusion

Selection of an instrument should consider the purpose of investigation, take its psychometric properties into account, and consider the instrument's origin and comprehensiveness. As quality of life can be affected by culture, studies assessing the quality of life of cervical cancer survivors in China or other non-English speaking countries should choose or develop instruments relevant to their own cultural context. There is a need to develop a comprehensive quality of life instrument for Chinese cervical cancer survivors across the whole survivorship, including immediately after diagnosis and for short- (less than 5 years) and long-term (more than 5 years) survivorship.

SUBMITTER: Zeng YC

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2852383 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Quality of life measurement in women with cervical cancer: implications for Chinese cervical cancer survivors.

Zeng Ying Chun YC Ching Shirley S Y SS Loke Alice Y AY

Health and quality of life outcomes 20100319

<h4>Background</h4>Women with cervical cancer now have relatively good 5-year survival rates. Better survival rates have driven the paradigm in cancer care from a medical illness model to a wellness model, which is concerned with the quality of women's lives as well as the length of survival. Thus, the assessment of quality of life among cervical cancer survivors is increasingly paramount for healthcare professionals. The purposes of this review were to describe existing validated quality of lif ...[more]

PMID: 20302624

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Project description:Concerted research efforts over the last three decades have resulted in improved survival and outcomes for patients diagnosed with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). The evolution of radiotherapy techniques has facilitated improved dose delivery to target volumes while reducing dose to the surrounding normal tissue, improving both disease control and quality of life (QoL). In parallel, clinical trials focusing on determining the optimal systemic therapy to use in conjunction with radiotherapy have been largely successful, resulting in improved locoregional, and distant control. As a consequence, neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) prior to definitive chemoradiotherapy has recently emerged as the preferred standard for patients with locally advanced NPC. Two of the major challenges in interpreting toxicity and QoL data from the published literature have been the reliance on: (1) clinician rather than patient reported outcomes; and (2) reporting statistical rather than clinical meaningful differences in measures. Despite the lower rates of toxicity that have been achieved with highly conformal radiotherapy techniques, survivors remain at moderate risk of persistent and long-lasting treatment effects, and the development of late radiation toxicities such as hearing loss, cranial neuropathies and cognitive impairment many years after successful treatment can herald a significant decline in QoL. Future approaches to reduce long-term toxicity will rely on: (1) identifying individual patients most likely to benefit from NACT; (2) development of response-adapted radiation strategies following NACT; and (3) anticipated further dose reductions to organs at risk with proton and particle therapy. With increasing numbers of survivors, many in the prime of their adult life, research to identify, and strategies to address the unmet needs of NPC survivors are required. This contemporary review will summarize our current knowledge of long-term toxicity, QoL and unmet needs of this survivorship group.

Project description:ObjectiveWe aimed to investigate the associations between diabetes and quality of life (QOL) among breast cancer survivors.MethodsA cross-sectional survey was conducted at 34 Cancer Recovery Clubs across China from May 2014 to January 2015. Quality of life was measured by the Quality of Life Questionnaire-Core 30 (EORTC QLQ-C30) and the Quality of Life Questionnaire-Breast Cancer Module 23 (QLQ-BR23, simplified Chinese version). Information on social-demography, diagnosis and treatment of tumors, and diabetes mellitus were collected by self-reported questionnaires. Univariate analyses of covariance (ANCOVA) was performed to assess the difference in QOL between patients with or without diabetes mellitus, and multiple linear regression models were used to examine the associations after controlling for confounders.ResultsDiabetes, both of type 1 diabetes (T1DM) and type 2 diabetes (T2DM) significantly reduced QOL. This effect of diabetes on QOL is independent of tumor size, regional lymph node metastasis, distant metastasis and tumor stage index (TNM). After adjusting for different social-demography, diagnosis and treatment of the tumor, the tumor's stage and other chronic comorbidities, breast cancer survivors with diabetes got significantly lower scores in functional dimensions (including physical, role, emotional and social functionings measured by EORTC QLQ-C30; body image (BRBI) and future perspective (BRFU) measured by QLQ-BR23, as well as economic difficulties than those without diabetes (Padjusted<0.05). Diabetic patients also obtained higher scores in symptom dimensions, including fatigue, nausea and vomiting, pain, dyspnoea, insomnia, constipation and diarrhoea measured by EORTC QLQ-C30; side effects, breast symptoms and upset by hair loss measured by QLQ-BR23 (Padjusted<0.05). Compared to patients with T1DM, those with T2DM are likely to suffer more by loss of functioning.ConclusionsDiabetes was associated with the decreased QOL for breast cancer survivors.

Dataset Information

Quality of life measurement in women with cervical cancer: implications for Chinese cervical cancer survivors.

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusion

Publications

Quality of life measurement in women with cervical cancer: implications for Chinese cervical cancer survivors.

Similar Datasets

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