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Quality of life of Danish colorectal cancer patients with and without a stoma

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Abstract

Goals of the work

As part of a psychosocial intervention study, we wanted to prospectively assess the quality of life of colorectal cancer patients who were given a stoma at the time of their initial operation for cancer or later and those whose initial stoma was removed.

Materials and methods

A total of 249 colorectal cancer patients were recruited and responded to a questionnaire 3, 6, 12 and 24 months after the initial operation (26–35% had a stoma during follow-up).

Main results

Although most of the differences between stoma and non-stoma patients failed to reach significance, 22 out of 27 variables indicated a poorer quality of life for those with a stoma. Patients who currently had a stoma had significantly higher levels of depression (p = 0.013), poorer social functioning (p = 0.0085) and more problems with body image (p = 0.0001), future perspectives (p = 0.0058), micturition (p = 0.018) and side effects from chemotherapy (p = 0.008), but fewer problems with constipation (p = 0.034) than non-stoma patients. Male patients with a stoma had more sexual problems than males without a stoma (p = 0.015). Among those with a current stoma, quality of life seemed poorer among those whose stoma was made during follow-up compared with those with an initial stoma.

Conclusions

Trends suggested that having a stoma led to poorer scores in most aspects of quality of life and that having a stoma made some time after the initial operation was more distressing than having a stoma made during the primary cancer operation.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by grants from the Danish Cancer Society, Psychosocial Research Foundation (grants 94 150 03, 97 225 58 and 99 150 03 (the John and Birthe Meyer Foundation)), the Health Insurance Fund (grant 11/047-97), the Mogens and Else Wedell-Wedellsborg Fund (grant 579), and the Janssen-Cilag grant for adjuvant treatment.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Cancer Epidemiology, Danish Cancer Society, 49 Strandboulevarden, DK-2100, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Lone Ross, Annemette G. Abild-Nielsen, Birthe L. Thomsen, Randi V. Karlsen, Ellen H. Boesen & Christoffer Johansen

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  1. Lone Ross
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  2. Annemette G. Abild-Nielsen
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  3. Birthe L. Thomsen
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  4. Randi V. Karlsen
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  5. Ellen H. Boesen
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  6. Christoffer Johansen
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Correspondence to Lone Ross.

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Ross, L., Abild-Nielsen, A.G., Thomsen, B.L. et al. Quality of life of Danish colorectal cancer patients with and without a stoma. Support Care Cancer 15, 505–513 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-006-0177-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-006-0177-8

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