Cancer Management and Research (Oct 2022)
Gender Differences in Quality of Life of Metastatic Lung Cancer Patients
Abstract
Myriam Koch,1 Frederike Rasch,1 Tobias Rothammer,1 Karolina Müller,2 Arno Mohr,3 Michael Koller,2 Christian Schulz1 1Department of Internal Medicine 2, University Hospital Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany; 2Center for Clinical Studies, University Hospital Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany; 3Center for Pneumology, Donaustauf Hospital, Donaustauf, GermanyCorrespondence: Myriam Koch, Department of Internal Medicine 2, University Hospital Regensburg, Franz-Josef-Strauß Allee 11, Regensburg, D-93053, Germany, Tel +49 941 9440, Email [email protected]: Gender aspects in lung cancer patients are a topic of growing interest. But little is known about gender aspects affecting the quality of life (QoL) for those with this life-threatening disease. The aim of the following study was to investigate how gender differences affect QoL in metastatic lung cancer patients.Methods: In a prospective, multicenter study patients filled out the EORTC QLQ-C30 questionnaire and the recently updated lung cancer module QLQ-LC29 at an undefined point in time during first-line therapy. Gender differences were calculated for all QoL scores using ANCOVAs, which controlled for confounders.Results: A total of 130 patients with metastatic lung cancer (UICC stage IV) (46 female and 84 male, mean age 66 years) were enrolled in this study by completing the questionnaires. The only significant gender difference in QoL was found regarding hair loss (mean women= 42.498, mean men=25.490, p-value= 0.010), although women received fewer chemotherapy treatments than men (women n=34, 74% and men n=68, 84%).Conclusion: This study provides evidence that the typical cancer related gender difference effect on QoL, suggesting that men suffer less than women, cannot be found in metastatic tumor stages of lung cancer patients.Keywords: metastatic lung cancer, gender differences, quality of life, EORTC QLQ-C30/QLQ-LC29
