The Quality of Life of People with Solid Cancer is Less Worse than Other Diseases with better Prognosis, Except in the Presence of Depression

Abstract

Background: Suffering from Solid Cancer (SC) may adversely impact the Health-related Quality of Life (H-QoL). The aims of this study are to measure the H-QoL in a sample of people suffering from SC and to clarify the role of the co-occurrence of depressive episodes. Results were compared with a healthy control group and with groups of other disorders. Methods: In 151 patients with SC (mean±sd age 63.1±11.5; female 54.3%), H-QoL was assessed by SF-12, depressive episodes were identified by PHQ-9. The attributable burden of SC in impairing H-QoL was calculated as the difference between SF-12 score of a community sex and age ¼ matched healthy control group and that of the study sample. The attributable burden of SC was compared with other chronic diseases using specific diagnostic groups drawn from case-control studies that used the same database for selecting control samples. Results: H-QoL in people with SC was significantly worse than in the healthy control group (p<0.0001). The attributable burden in worsening the H-QoL due to SC was similar to those of severe chronic diseases, but lower than Multiple Sclerosis (p<0.0001) or Fibromyalgia (p<0.00001). Having a depressive episode was a strong determinant of decreasing H-QoL, regardless of the severity of cancer. Conclusion: The findings confirm a strong impact of SC but showed that H-QoL in SC was higher than in chronic diseases with better “quoad vitam” outcome. Since depression was a strong determinant, its prevention, early detection and therapy are the main objectives that must be reached in cancer patients.

The Effects of Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors (TKIs) in Monotherapy and with Add-on Treatments on Health-related Quality of Life of People with Chronic Myeloid Leukemia: A Systematic Review of Randomized-Controlled Trials

“…The EuroQoL-5Dimension (EQ-5D) [ 50 , 51 ] was used in N 1 RCT [ 39 ]. This questionnaire includes five items (mobility, self-care, usual activities, pain/discomfort, and anxiety/depression) rated on a Likert scale (no problems, some problems, or extreme problems), with higher levels indicating greater impairment.…”

“…In the last decades, a research had been focused on HRQoL and the burden on this PRO due to several chronic diseases, such as Multiple Sclerosis [ 33 ], Celiac Disease [ 34 ], Fibromyalgia [ 35 ], Carotid Atherosclerosis [ 36 ], Wilson’s Disease [ 37 ], hematological cancers [ 38 ], and solid cancers [ 39 ].…”

Efficacy of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation on Pain Level and Disability of Patients with Fibromyalgia: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials with Parallel-Group Design

“…Furthermore, the relative ease of access and the portability of tDCS devices for both clinical and home-based treatments [58] suggest potential utility in addressing pain-related issues in various clinical scenarios, such as with cancer patients. Given the increased prevalence of FM in cancer patients [59,60] and the co-occurrence of depressive symptoms and pain, targeting the DLPFC with tDCS could be beneficial [61,62]. This approach may offer a dual therapeutic effect by potentially improving mood and reducing pain and fatigue.…”