Page 218 - Read Online

Aminisani et al. Quality of life among rectal cancer patients

North America and the lowest incidence rates belonged small sample size.
to Africa and south-central Asia . Variation might be
[1]
explained by differences in genetic susceptibility, The studies on assessing HRQOL among CRC
dietary habits and environmental exposures . Recent patients are limited, and we could not find any
[2]
advances in treatment and management of CRC have publication related to the quality of life of RC patients.
improved control and disease-free survival . The aim of this study was to assess the HRQOL
[3]
and its determinants in patients diagnosed with RC
Nowadays, the standard strategy in the management referring to the specialty teaching hospitals in East
of CRC is a multidisciplinary approach to treatment Azerbaijan, northwest of Iran.
especially for management of rectal cancer which is
one of the great challenges and responsibility of the METHODS
colorectal surgeons. The main goal is to improve
survival, to minimise morbidity and to maximise the This cross-sectional study was conducted in the city
quality of life of the rectal cancer patients [4,5] . of Tabriz, East Azarbaijan province located in the
northwest of Iran between 2014 and 2015. All newly
Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) is a diagnosed patients aged 18 and over who had been
multidimensional concept that covers a range of the diagnosed less than one year presenting at the
subjective perceptions from physical, emotional, teaching hospitals regardless of stage at diagnosis
social, and cognitive functions to disease symptoms and plans for treatment, were included in this study.
and treatment side effects among cancer patients .
[6]
In CRC, the assessment of HRQOL is critical, and a Demographic information including age, the level of
range of various factors including socio-demographic education, employment status and place of residency
characteristics, lifestyle, surgical procedures, and was collected via self-report. Age was categorised
health-related factors are associated with HRQOL of into two categories; < 55 and ≥ 55 years, the level of
patients with CRC . Although, HRQOL assessment education was classified as illiterate, literate, occupation
[7]
is important in evaluating the treatment options for classed into (paid work or out of work) and finally
rectal cancer (RC) patients, data on assessment of the place of residency specified as either urban or rural.
quality of life among RC patients in the presence of a Patients were also asked whether they experienced
range of socio-demographic, lifestyle behaviours and various comorbid conditions (including heart disease,
clinical factors are scarce.
hypertension, chronic back pain, arthritis, stroke,
There are few cross-sectional studies which have osteoporosis, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary
assessed the quality of life among this group of disease, stomach and/or intestinal condition). Three
patients in which some included few cases, or focused different treatment regimens were used in this cohort
on treatment options only or did not include lifestyle of stage I-III rectal cancer patients: (1) surgery only,
factors [7-9] . There is a relatively large prospective study surgery plus chemotherapy (surgery + CT), surgery
that showed the anterior resection and non-stoma plus radiotherapy (surgery + RT); (2) surgery plus
patients, despite suffering micturition and defecation adjuvant chemo-radiotherapy (surgery + CRT); and (3)
problems, had a better quality of life scores than CT only/RT only/CRT only.
abdominoperineal extirpation and stoma patients . A
[10]
longitudinal study with 19 months follow-up, evaluated European organization for research and treatment
HRQOL in patients with RC using the functional of cancer quality-of-life questionnaire (QLQ) C30
assessment of cancer therapy-colorectal instrument was completed from all participants by two trained
and reported no differences in HRQOL by either tumour interviewers. This scale is the core questionnaire for
location or type of surgery, at either 9 or 19 months evaluating the QOL of cancer patients. It is a 30-itemed
after diagnosis. These prospective studies were also instrument with a four-point scale, from “not at all” to
focused on clinical aspects of QOL. “very much”, for items 1 to 28; and a seven-point scale
for items 29 and 30. The QLQ-C30 dimensions include
In Iran, CRC is one of the common cancers and is the physical functioning (PF), role functioning (RF),
ranked the third and fifth most common cancer in cognitive functioning (CF), emotional functioning (EF),
women and men respectively. The age-standardized social functioning (SF), the general level of QOL and
incidence rates in men and women were 11.31 and the symptoms scale (i.e. fatigue, pain). Each patient’s
10.89 respectively . Previous studies showed an scores were transformed into a 0-to-100 scale, where
[11]
increase in trend of this cancer in north of Iran and poor 0 denotes the worst and 100 the best on functioning
quality of life among CRC survivors [12,13] . However, the scales. In contrast, the reverse scoring system was
data was not specific to RC survivors because of the applied for symptoms where zero point denotes the
210 Journal of Cancer Metastasis and Treatment ¦ Volume 3 ¦ September 29, 2017