Impact of Age on Quality of Life in Patients with Rectal Cancer

Abstract

Some studies indicate that age at the time of surgery has a general effect on outcomes. The impact of age on the quality of life (QOL) of patients with rectal cancer, however, has not been investigated. The present study was conducted to address this issue. Over a 5-year period the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC)-QLQ-C-30 and a tumor-specific module were prospectively administered to patients before surgery, at discharge, and at 3, 6, 12, and 24 months postoperatively. Comparisons were made between age groups. A total of 519 patients participated in the study. QOL data were available for 253 patients. Significant differences were observed only between patients aged 69 years and younger (< or =69 years) (169/253) and those aged 70 years and older (> or =70 years) (85/253). Physical and role functioning was better for patients < or =69 years; patients > or =70 years suffered from increased pain and fatigue. Younger patients had more difficulty with sexual enjoyment, and over time sexual strain was worse for patients aged > or =70 years during the early postoperative period but improved, whereas patients aged < or =69 years had increasing levels of strain over time. The findings in this study confirmed that QOL is dynamic over time and that age has an impact on QOL and sexuality. Patients aged > or =70 years are affected by impaired physical functioning, global health, and fatigue, whereas increased treatment strain during the early postoperative period improves over time. Patients aged < or =69 years experience increased strain because of impaired sexual function.

Fatigue in colorectal cancer patients: prevalence and associated factors

“…In general, the study sample is similar to other studies on colorectal cancer patients concerning sociodemographic, clinical and treatment data (18)(19) . Utilizing the estimated error for each of the independent predictive variables, the Fatigue Prediction Table (Table 3) It is observed that not only the number of factors, but also their nature influences the likelihood of having fatigue.…”

“…No studies on fatigue predictors in colorectal cancer patients were found, but the study data on fatigue prevalence and intensity were similar to those used in this search (18)(19)21) . When fatigue prevalence (26.8%) and intensity (mean=5.8; SD=1.3; median=5.4) in this research were compared to studies involving other cancer patients, it was noted that fatigue was less frequent than in studies on patients in palliative care and receiving adjuvant chemotherapy or radiotherapy (1)(2) , and higher than some cancer survivors' experience, who reported 26% (8) .…”

“…There are studies that observed some of these variables as risk factors for fatigue, such as female gender (18) , young age (2,19) , the absence of regular job (5) , cancer treatment (2) , among others. In other studies, other variables were also not observed, such as cancer staging, presence of some co-morbidities, concomitant medications, etc.…”

Fatores que influenciam a qualidade de vida de pacientes com câncer de cólon e reto

“…Descriptive and exploratory studies -level 6 (19)(20)(21)(22) Controlled randomized clinical trial -level 2 (23) Qualitative, phenomenological -level 6 (24) Role, emotional, social, physical and mental functions. (27) Lis et al 2006 (28) Studies tested the correlation among genders (25) , age ranges (26) , described the difference between well-and malnourished patients (27) and investigated whether QoL predicts survival (28) .…”

“…Berkman-Syme Social Network Index (SNI) (20)(21) Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression scale (CES-D) (16) EORTC Quality of Life Questionnaire Core-30 (QLQ-C30) (19,22,23,(25)(26)(27) EORTC Quality of Life Questionnaire Colorectal-38 (QLQ-CR38) (19,23,(25)(26) Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy -Colorectal (FACT-C) (14)(15)(16) Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy -General (FACT-G) (16) Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) (18,(22)(23) Medical Outcomes Study Short-Form 12 (SF-12) (18,21) Medical Outcomes Study Short-Form 36 (SF-36) (20) Nottingham Health Profile (NHP) (17) State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) (16) Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) (14)(15)(16) The Ferrans and Powers Quality of life Index (QLI) (28) Obs. Notes refer to the articles that used each instrument.…”