Quality of Life Linked with Physical, Psychological Symptoms in Cancer

the Cancer Therapy Advisor take:

Quality of life (QoL) was found to be linked to physical and psychological symptoms in patients with advanced cancer, according to an article published online in the journal European Journal of Cancer Care.

In this study, 115 patients with cancer were evaluating using a series of rating scales including the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy – Spiritual Well-Being Scale, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, the Visual Analogue Scale for pain, the Brief Coping Orientation to Problem Experienced and the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy Scale – General Measure.

Results showed workers and single patients with higher level education demonstrated a worse QoL compared to their counterparts.

Furthermore, QoL was negatively associated with pain and anxiety, but positively associated with spirituality and ‘Instrumental Support’ coping style.

The authors noted that when patients were close to death in the Italian sample, they relied heavily on faith as a component of spirituality rather than meaning or peace.