Determinants of health-related quality of life in patients with small cell lung cancer: a systematic PubMed review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Objective ― Symptoms of small cell lung cancer (SCLC), along with the side-effects of treatment interventions (e.g. nausea and vomiting due to cytotoxic drugs), are supposed to influence negatively the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of the patients. An understanding of the determinants of SCLC patients’ HRQoL could help health professionals in clinical decision making, screening and prediction of health outcomes. The aim of this review was to identify the health-related quality of life determining factors of patients with SCLC. Methods ― A literature review in the PubMed database was conducted in relation to the clinical and sociodemographic determinants of SCLC patients’ HRQoL. The extraction and evaluation of the studies was carried out, according to preset criteria, by two reviewers who worked independently. Results ― Thirty-three publications were detected four of which met the inclusion criteria. The majority of the included studies were randomized trials. By the multivariate statistical analysis it was detected that negative influence on SCLC patients’ HRQoL had the female gender (Wald Chi-Square=7.86, p=0.005), the quite a bit or very much tiredness (χ2=28.54, p<0.001), the walking difficulty (χ2=31.80, p<0.001) and the presence of dyspnea (χ2=47.52, p<0.001). Conclusions ― Health professionals could pay more attention to the management of cancer-related fatigue and dyspnea as well as to the enhancement of patients’ mobility through low-impact exercise programs or appropriate assistive devices.

Keywords

• quality of life
• determinants
• small cell lung cancer