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Treatment-related side effects and quality of life in cancer patients

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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.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank all the patients who participated in this study.

Authors' disclosure of potential conflicts of interest

The authors have no conflict of interest, financial or otherwise, related to this work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Oncology and Dermatological Oncology, Istituto Dermopatico dell’Immacolata, Istituto di Ricerca e Cura a Carattere Scientifico, IDI-IRCCS, Via dei Monti di Creta, 104, 00167, Rome, Italy

    Eva Mazzotti, Gian Carlo Antonini Cappellini, Stefania Buconovo, Roberto Morese, Alessandro Scoppola, Claudia Sebastiani & Paolo Marchetti

  2. Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, “La Sapienza” University of Rome, Rome, Italy

    Paolo Marchetti

Authors
  1. Eva Mazzotti
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  2. Gian Carlo Antonini Cappellini
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  3. Stefania Buconovo
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  4. Roberto Morese
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  5. Alessandro Scoppola
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  6. Claudia Sebastiani
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  7. Paolo Marchetti
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Correspondence to Eva Mazzotti.

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Mazzotti, E., Antonini Cappellini, G.C., Buconovo, S. et al. Treatment-related side effects and quality of life in cancer patients. Support Care Cancer 20, 2553–2557 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-011-1354-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-011-1354-y

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