Which factors influence the quality of life of Tunisian patients with lung cancer?

Abstract

Introduction - No previous study has established the factors that influence the quality of life (QOL) of tunisian patients with lung cancer (LC).This study
aims to identify the factors that influence QOL of tunisian patients with LC.

Methods. A medical questionnaire assessed the general and specific characteristics of 100 patients (90 men), and structured questionnaires (QLQ-C30 and QLQ-LC13) assessed QOL.
Results -Women, elderly, married and illiterate patients had poor QOL. Compared to patients free from comorbidity, those with one to two comorbidities had lower scores of physical and life-role activities. Compared to patients with cancer discovered less than one year ago, those who’s cancer appeared more
than one year ago had lower scores of global health, physical activity, nausea/vomiting, and higher scores of insomnia and anorexia. Patients with advanced cancer had poor QOL in terms of physical and emotional activities, and insomnia and constipation items. Patients with metastases had a poor QOL in terms of global health, physical activity, fatigue symptom, insomnia, anorexia, and diarrhea. The histological and treatment types did not influence QOL. The QLQ-LC13 scores were not influenced by sex. However, compared to patients treated with chemotherapy, those treated with chemotherapy
and surgery had higher scores of dyspnea and peripheral neuropathy.
Conclusion - The following factors influenced QOL of Tunisian patients with LC: sex, age, civil status, schooling level, comorbidities, LC stage and duration, metastases. Compared to patients treated with chemotherapy, those treated with chemotherapy and surgery had higher scores of dyspnea and peripheral neuropathy.