Objective This paper proposes and evaluates a model of the relative importance that cancer‐related health factor along with other health factors have for the self‐rated health and life satisfaction of older adult, long‐term cancer survivors. The data are examined in the context of important racial differences in health and life satisfaction along with other covariates including gender and education. Method This research utilizes regression‐based path analysis to examine data from a sample of 321 older (age 60+), long‐term (5+ years since diagnosis) cancer survivors. Respondents were randomly selected from the tumor registry of a major university hospital cancer center from among those with breast, prostate, or colorectal cancer. Blacks were oversampled to provide the analytic power to make racial comparisons among cancer survivors. Results Bivariate analysis indicates that there is a consistent pattern of Black/White differences in both cancer‐related and general health characteristics as well as life satisfaction among older cancer survivors. Moreover, the results suggest that race is an important predictor of older survivors' health characteristics. These, in turn, explain significant variance in both self‐rated health and life satisfaction, that is, attributed to Black/White differences in these predictors. Conclusions Clinical health and social service providers need to be aware of the importance of both general health and cancer‐related health factors when working with minority long‐term cancer survivors as these have implications for their overall quality of life.

The findings suggest that geriatricians, geriatric nurses, and clinical gerontologists who work with cancer survivorsneed to be aware of the ways in which both cancer and noncancer illness factors work together in producing threats to health quality of life through the extent and nature of functional impairments.

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Previous research has identified cancer and cancer-treatment related effects on survivors’ mental impairment including memory and concentration. However, research has not systematically examined the relative impact of cancer in the context of age and other age-related health challenges common in later life. This paper compares the effects of cancer-related factors with other health challenges faced by 471 older adult long-term survivors from an NCI-funded study of a randomly selected tumor registry sample from a major comprehensive cancer center. Having had chemotherapy is associated with several cognitive outcomes including memory and concentration. Survivors who reported more cancer-related symptoms during treatment reported a greater number of cognitive symptoms even decades after treatment. Importantly, other comorbid health problems as well as social factors were found to be important in explaining symptoms of cognitive impairment in this older adult sample. These findings suggest that health care and mental health providers consider the range of health challenges, including those related to cancer and its treatment, as they provide patient centered care.