The impact of informing diagnosis on quality of life in patients with cancer: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>Objective To assess the impact of informing diagnosis and disease status on the quality of life in patients with cancer Method We searched the follow databases, Pubmed, CENTRAL(Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials), PsycINFO, WEB OF SCIENCE, Embase, CBM (Chinese Biomedical Literature database), WANFANG database (Chinese Medicine Premier), and CNKI (China National Knowledge Infrastructure). And the terms used are as follows: neoplasm, cancer, tumour, tumor, carcinoma, disclosure, truth telling, breaking bad news, knowledge, knowing, awareness, quality of life, QOL. Pairs of reviewers independently screened documents and extracted the data. Meta-analysis was conducted by Revman 5.0 software. Results There were 11740 records retrieved from databases and 23 studies were included finally. Meta-analysis of informed and uniformed cancer patients revealed no differences in both the general quality of life and symptoms of fatigue, pain, dyspnea, insomnia, appetite loss and diarrhea (P&gt;0.05). Additionally, no difference in physical function, role function, cognitive activity and emotional function between the above 2 groups(P&gt;0.05) were found. On the vitality area, the patients who were totally informed about their diagnosis had higher vitality than the uniformed patients. However, patients aware about their illnesses seemed to get lower scores in social function. Between the partly informed of the diagnosis and uninformed cancer patients, there were no differences in general quality of life, function domains and disease-related symptoms (P&gt;0.05). Conclusion Informing the cancer patients their diagnosis may not have a bad effect on their quality of life. PROSPERO registration number CRD42017060073.</jats:p>