حیات (Mar 2004)
The relation between the cancer characteristics and quality of life in the patients under chemotherapy
Abstract
Introduction: Gathering information about quality of life is an essential step in designing more effective treatments and also helps developing better supportive and rehabilitation programs. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional to investigate the relation between cancer characteristics and quality of life in patients under chemotherapy, 200 patients with different types of cancers were selected by simple sampling method. The data were collected through interview, reviewing patients’ files and patients’ self-reports. The data were collected by a questionnaire consisted of three parts: part one, demographic characteristics; part two, questions about cancer type, stage and duration, pain, acceptance or refusal of cancer by patient, decrease or loss of organs’ function and degree of fatigue, and part three, designed to investigate different aspects of quality of life, including questions about general appearance, physical activity, occupational status, social function and sleep. Descriptive and analytic statistics were used. Results: The results showed that quality of life in majority of the subjects (66%) was moderate. There was a meaningful relationship between some of cancer characteristics like type of cancer (p=0.007), intensity of pain (p=0.007), decrease or loss of organs’ function (p=0.001) and degree of fatigue (p=0.0) with quality of life, but there was no meaningful correlation between acceptance or refusal of disease, duration of disease from diagnosis time and stage of cancer with quality of life. Conclusion: It seems that there is a relationship between some cancer characteristics and quality of life. Attention must be paid to these aspects to improve quality of life in cancer patients.
