Health-related quality of life in colorectal cancer survivors: are there differences between sporadic and hereditary patients?

Abstract

PurposeTo compare health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in colorectal cancer (CRC) survivors with sporadic CRC to those with hereditary cancer, specifically Lynch syndrome (LS).MethodsParticipants completed a mailed self-administered questionnaire that assessed, among other things, demographics, clinical characteristics, and health-related quality of life. Using a case-case design, CRC survivors with LS or sporadic cancer were matched on age, sex, race/ethnicity, cancer stage, geography, and time since diagnosis. Participants were recruited from patient registries at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (MD Anderson) (n = 33 LS; n = 75 sporadic) and through social media (n = 42 LS). The final sample included 71 LS and 74 sporadic CRC survivors.ResultsFor LS patients, the mean FACT-C HRQoL score was 84.8 (11.9) [Median = 86.0; Interquartile Range-17] compared to sporadic patients mean score of 85.8 (16.7) [Median = 92.0; Interquartile Range-21], which indicates high quality of life for both groups. LS patients and sporadic CRC patients had similar HRQoL mean scores across 7 different HRQoL metrics, with no significant differences between groups. Exploratory regression analyses indicate some differences in known predictors of HRQoL by group despite no bivariate differences.ConclusionsHRQoL is an important component of survivorship in CRC patients. Given the clinical distinctions between LS and sporadic patients, we expected to find significant differences between these patients. However, the patients’ experiences/quality of life does not appear to illustrate such a clear dissimilarity within CRC survivors. Given the limited data in this area, larger studies, ideally with data obtained from multiple sites, is needed to better investigate the alignment between clinical determination and patient experience as well as to explore the relationship between HRQOL, treatment regimens, and health outcomes.

The Quality of Life of Patients with Hereditary Nonpolyposis Colorectal Cancer Undergoing Preoperative Chemoradiation

“…A comparative study on a sporadic cancer patient group as compared with a hereditary cancer patient group shows that there are no statistically significant differences in QoL, patients from both groups having a high score of QoL [33]. Another study has shown that after segmental resection or extended resection for hereditary colon cancer, the QoL is not significantly different [34].…”

Heterogeneity in Quality of Life of Long-Term Colon Cancer Survivors: A Latent Class Analysis of the Population-Based PROFILES Registry

“…HRQOL in patients with and survivors of colon cancer is well studied. However, the majority of studies have only investigated specific aspects of HRQOL (such as chemotherapy-induced neuropathy [2,11] and fatigue [12]) or modeled the subdomains of common HRQOL instruments separately by testing differences in means or using regression models [13][14][15][16][17]. Other studies have combined these subdomains into a single HRQOL score [18].…”