Quality of life research: is there a difference in output between the major cancer types?

Abstract

As a result of more people living with or surviving cancer, outputs for quality of life research may have increased over time to reflect the needs of the growing number of people affected by cancer. To determine if this is the case, the authors sought to examine the number and proportion of publications concerned with cancer patients' quality of life for four major cancer sites (breast, lung, prostate, colorectal) over five equal time periods (1985, 1990, 1995, 2000, 2005). A computer-based literature search using Medline and PsycINFO databases was undertaken. A comparison search with cancer-related biomedical terms was conducted. The results showed that the number of quality of life publications was substantially lower compared with biomedical publications over time, although the average annual relative increase in publications was greatest for quality of life. The total number of quality of life publications was greatest for breast cancer and lowest for colorectal cancer at all five time points. The relative increase over time of quality of life publications was greatest for prostate cancer and lowest for breast cancer. More research is needed regarding quality of life for cancer patients. Breast cancer has dominated quality of life research outputs despite a lower relative increase in publications over time compared with other cancer sites. There is need for debate among funding agencies and researchers to ensure research efforts are shared among cancer types.

Examining and addressing evidence-practice gaps in cancer care: a systematic review

“…The finding that a large proportion of research effort has been directed toward breast cancer care is in accordance with previous findings that breast cancer research dominates the quality of life research field [36]. Prostate cancer is similar to breast cancer in terms of incidence [37], and other high-incidence cancers such as lung cancer and bowel cancer have higher mortality rates than breast cancer [37].…”

Unmet needs and distress in people with inoperable lung cancer at the commencement of treatment

“…However, lung cancer is one of the most under-researched cancer types, particularly the psychosocial and quality of life aspects [9]. The research is often limited by small or heterogeneous samples, perhaps as a result of recruitment difficulties [10].…”

Cetuximab in first line treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer

“…Il ruolo degli studi di qualità di vita nell'area oncologica è notevolmente cresciuto negli ultimi vent'anni. Una recente revisione sistematica della letteratura sugli studi di qualità di vita, pubblicata nel 2010 [111] ha evidenziato una certa crescita del numero di pubblicazioni. La crescita annua relativa di pubblicazioni sulla QoL di pazienti oncologici è stata di certo consistente, tuttavia, in termini assoluti, il numero di pubblicazioni in quest'ambito rimane nettamente inferiore rispetto alle pubblicazioni dell'area biomedica.…”