Comparison of early quality of life outcomes in autologous and allogeneic transplant patients

Abstract

The Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Bone Marrow Transplant measures quality of life (QOL) in SCT patients. Prior reports found mixed results regarding QOL differences among autologous and allogeneic SCT patients. In addition, there is a paucity of literature examining differences in QOL patterns over time between autologous and allogeneic patients. The present study examines differences in QOL between patients free of clinical depression undergoing autologous (n ¼ 41) and allogeneic (n ¼ 64) SCT during early stages of treatment. Despite clinical differences, autologous and allogeneic patients demonstrated similar changes in QOL. The exception was the Functional subscale which indicated worse QOL for allogeneic patients at discharge (F test ¼ 4.61, df ¼ 1, Po0.05); allogeneic patients (Mean ¼ 13.06, s.d. ¼ 5.36) indicated they were less able to function at work and were less accepting of their illness than autologous patients (Mean ¼ 16.02, s.d. ¼ 6.73). There was a significant main effect for time on nearly all QOL subscales (Po0.05) demonstrating decline during treatment and return to baseline by discharge; only the Social Well-Being scale did not significantly change over time. These results help to understand patients' response to SCT in the earliest stages and ultimately help identify patients at risk who could benefit from therapeutic interventions.

Comprometimento social de pacientes submetidos ao transplante de células-tronco hematopoéticas

“…This fact indicates that therapy had no influence in participants' emotional factor. In a study performed in Chicago (USA) with 105 cancer patients, the FACT-BMT scale results reached similar averages to those of the current study, between 18.85 and 20.52 (score 0-28) (12) . In a study developed in the cities of Heidelberg and Wiesbaden (Germany) and in a review also conducted in Germany, both using the QLQ-C30 scale, the results in the emotional function had negative scores in the three stages during the hospitalization period, which differs from this study (11,20) .…”

“…However, a review performed in Germany with the main QOL studies using the QLQ-C30 to evaluate the pre-and post-HSCT (11) , and another review performed in Chicago (USA) that compared the QOL of patients undergoing autologous and allogeneic HSCT in 105 participants with cancer, showed the patients' age was between 40 and 50 years (12) , which differs from the present study findings. The marital status and number of children in this study corroborate data found in national and international literature, i.e., patients with hematological malignancies are married or in a common-law marriage and have one to three children (12)(13)(14)(15)(16) . In a study on the bond between cancer patients and their families, it was observed that the main companions of patients with neoplasia are children, spouses and parents, and family involvement is critical during the disease process.…”

“…A similar economic pattern was found in national and international studies (10,(12)(13)18) . Among the many negative events of neoplasia, the financial difficulty is responsible for vulnerable conditions.…”

“…Only the pre-HSCT result found in the study performed in Chicago (USA) approaches the value of this study (23.15). In the other periods the average values were higher and not considered significant (12) . This time stability is probably related to the fact that patients in that study perceived they had high level of support regardless of the severity of their symptoms in other domains, at least in the early stages of treatment.…”

Qualidade De Vida Nos Primeiros Seis Meses Pós-Transplante De Células-Tronco Hematopoéticas

“…32 Nursing has the prerogative to be the team that is closest to and actively participates in treatment in its different phases. Thus, it should seek to fill this gap by inserting itself more and more into research that addresses this issue.…”