Purpose
We evaluated health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in long-term survivors of indolent and aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL).
Materials and Methods
TheHRQOLwas assessed by the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality-of-Life Questionnaire Core 30 (EORTC QLQ-C30) at diagnosis in NHL patients between 2008 and 2011, and follow-up evaluation was conducted from June 2014 to February 2015 using EORTC QLQ-C30 and the quality of life in cancer survivors (QOL-CS) questionnaire. We used linear mixed models to compare changes in HRQOL between indolent and aggressive NHL over time.
Results
The HRQOL of long-term survivors with aggressive NHL improved to the similar level of indolent NHL during the follow-up survey. However, survivors of NHL were found to fear the probability of relapse and second malignancy, and the degree of fear was not different between survivors with aggressive stage I/II or III/IV NHL (p > 0.05). Furthermore, a half of survivors reported impaired sense of psychosocial well-being regardless of aggressiveness and stage during follow-up survey. More than 65% of survivors thought they did not receive sufficient support from others, and patients who had financial difficulties at diagnosis were more frequently associated with suffering from insufficient support. Impaired physical and cognitive functioning at diagnosis was significantly associated with lack of life purpose in long-term survivors.
Conclusion
The HRQOL of aggressive NHL survivors improved to a similar level to that of indolent NHL. However, the majority of survivors still had fear of relapse, and psychosocial well-being remained unmet needs.
Citations
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Purpose
The objective of this study was to validate the Korean version of the Quality of Life–Cancer Survivors (QOL-CS-K) in a sample of lymphoma survivors.
Materials and Methods
We conducted a cross-sectional survey of lymphoma survivors who had survived for at least 24 months since diagnosis. Participants were recruited at the outpatient clinics and at a hospital event in a tertiary hospital in Seoul, Korea. Survivors were asked to complete the QOLCS-K and the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Core Questionnaire (EORTC QLQ-C30) questionnaires. To determine test-retest reliability, a second questionnaire was sent to participants who completed the first questionnaire adequately. Exploratory factor analysis and Pearson’s correlations were used for evaluating reliability and validity of the QOL-CS-K.
Results
Among 257 survivors, 245 (95.3%) completed all questionnaires and had no missing data. The mean age of study participants was 52.2 years, 54.9% were men, and the mean time since diagnosis was 4.0±1.6 years. The Cronbach’s α for the overall QOL-CS-K was 0.90, and the α coefficients for each subscale ranged from 0.73 to 0.83. The test and retest reliability was 0.88. Moderate correlations were found between comparable subscales of the QOL-CS-K and subscales of the EORTC QLQ-C30 (r=0.51-0.55) except for the spiritual well-being subscale of the QOL-CS-K, which did not correlate with any of the EORTC QLQ-C30 subscales (–0.08 to 0.16).
Conclusion
The QOL-CS-K is a reliable and valid scale for measuring the QOL in long-term lymphoma survivors.
Citations
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