The Quality of Life of Patients With Different Leukemia Types

Abstract

Background: Leukemia is among the major causes of mortality and disability and the seventh most prevalent cancer worldwide. It has various effects on the biopsychosocial, reproductive, and economic performance of individuals. This study compared the Quality of Life (QoL) of hospitalized patients with different leukemia. Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study. In total, 100 adolescent patients with leukemia hospitalized in Ayatollah Khansari Hospital in Arak City, Iran, were selected by purposive sampling method. The samples were evaluated for six months in 2018. The required data were collected by EORTC-QLQ-C30 Quality of Life questionnaire and analyzed by descriptive statistics (Mean±SD and frequency) and Chi-squared test, Fisher's exact test, and t-test in SPSS. P≤0.5 was considered as significant. Results: The overall QoL Mean±SD score was 62.2±12.59, which was at a relatively appropriate level. The Mean±SD scores of life quality were 60.10±14.31 for chronic lymphocytic leukemia, 59.51±12.83 for acute lymphocytic leukemia, 66.61±10.94 for chronic myeloid leukemia, and 62.84±6.33 for acute myeloid leukemia. There were significant differences between the total QoL and its dimensions in different leukemia types (P<0.05). There was also a significant relationship between age, residency, and marital status of the patients, and their total QoL (P<0.05). Conclusion: Patients with myeloid leukemia had a better QoL, compared to those with lymphocytic leukemia. The patients had better performance in the physical area and weaker performance in social domain. The knowledge of nurses and other healthcare members about these findings could be used to promote care and improve the QoL of patients with different leukemia types.

Complementary and Alternative Medicine application in cancer patients in Iran

“…While in a study by Shirinabadi et al in Iran, patients mostly used CAM to reduce anxiety and depression, and then to reduce pain (27). In this study incidence of CAM side effects in this was 5.9%, in other studies however, this item was reported to be 5.6-18.6% (7,23). In our study the source of information about CAM were family, friends and relatives.…”

“…In this study, the most people who used CAM were patients with leukemia and then breast cancer. This can be due to high incidence of leukemia in this region of Iran (23) Participants of our study mostly used CAM to reduce pain, anxiety, constipation, anorexia, insomnia, fatigue and shortness of breath. The results of a study by Al-Naggar is consistent with our nding (23).…”

“…Our ndings partly con rm the results of studies in Korea (28) and Sweden ( 23) which indicated that family and relatives are the main source of information about CAM. However, other studies reported media like the internet, television, radio and newspapers as the major source of informing about CAM (20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30).…”

“…In Ethiopia, 72.1% of cancer patients used medicinal plants more than any other CAM method (7). In Malaysia using Sea Cucumber (22%) and Homeopathy were the most used methods (10.5%) (23). In Sweden, using vitamins and minerals and relaxation methods were the most common (26).…”

“…Al-Naggar et al have reported that 85% of cancer patients were using conventional medical treatments and CAM at the same time. Using CAM and conventional medical treatments simultaneously can result in production of potentially dangerous compounds which in turn, may cause various side effects(23). This is a serious problem for health care systems and patients, and should seriously be considered.…”