Assessing the quality of life in patients with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma is a burden or an advantage?

Abstract

Introduction. Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) is a malignant cancer of the lymphatic system. Modern treatment of NHL allows patients to extend their lifespan, but at the same time somatic and psychological complications reduce the patients’ quality of life. The objective of the study was to assess the quality of life in patients with NHL. Material and methods. The study included patients with aggressive and indolent NHL. The quality of life was assessed using the standard assessment tools Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG), Global Well-Being (GWB) and European Organization for the Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) QLQ-C30. Results. The study included 56 NHL patients: 36 women, 20 men, with a mean age of 58.1±1.3 years. The ECOG Scale of Performance Status, the EORTC functional scales, global health status and GWB were according to the primary tumour. Higher values ​​of functional scales were recorded in patients with aggressive NHL (70%). The symptom scales assessment did not clearly vary in both types of lymphomas (70% aggressive, 63% indolent), and the “better” global health status predominated in indolent NHL (36.8%). In 64.3% of cases there is severe suffering, with the predominance in women (72.2%). Conclusions. Patients with indolent NHL had a higher degree of independence. The ECOG scale of NHL patients, regardless of morphological type, does not correspond to the stage of the disease, but to the location of the primary tumour and its size.

Keywords

• non-hodgkin’s lymphoma
• quality of life
• health status