Quality of life in long-term survivors of early stage endometrial cancer

Abstract

Introduction. Endometrial cancer (EC) is the most common gynaecological malignancy in developed countries. Effective treatment of the early stage of the disease is achieved by surgery alone. An increasing number of patients with EC become long-term survivors; therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the quality-of-life (QOL) of EC survivors. Materials and Method. A total of 328 survivors who had completed cancer treatment more than 3 years ago, and had previously completed questionnaires concerning QOL – European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire (EORTC QLQ-C30) and depression – Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II). Patients were grouped into those with surgery alone or surgery with adjuvant radiotherapy. Responses were compared with 284 healthy women who were seen for standard gynaecologic screening examinations. Results. According to the presented results, the QOL of women with EC after surgical treatment was equal to that of healthy women in the control group. Treatment with adjuvant radiotherapy influenced the QOL, with the exception of emotional functioning (p=0.028). No statistically significant differences were found in scores on the BDI-II between groups for the cognitive-affective factor, the somatic factor, or the total sum score. Conclusions. The quality of life in EC survivors approximates that of healthy controls after 3 years post-surgical treatment. Patients treated for early stage EC should be informed about the anticipated good prognosis and the low risk of psychosocial and physical long-term effects. Cancer survivors who are treated by surgery and adjuvant radiotherapy may be especially at risk for emotional functioning problems.

Keywords

• endometrial cancer
• quality of life
• depression