Abstract 750: Quality of life among anal cancer patients in Puerto Rico
Authors: Cartagena Jeslie M. Ramos- , Ortiz-Ortiz Karen J. , Colón-López Vivian , Echenique Ignacio , Santiago Roberto , Reyes Jose S. , Deshmukh Ashish A. , Ortiz Ana P. 
Published: June 2023

Introduction: The impact of cancer diagnosis and treatments on patients' health related quality of life (HRQoL) is a survivorship concern. Little is known about HRQoL among anal cancer survivors. We described HRQoL among anal cancer survivors living in Puerto Rico (PR).

Methods: From January 2020 to October 2021 anal cancer survivors (n=35) living in PR were surveyed. Inclusion criteria included participants aged ≥21 years diagnosed with anal cancer and living in PR from 2016-2020. All participants underwent an interview where information on demographic and clinical characteristics was collected. Participants answered the EORTC QLQ-30 (version 3.0), a cancer-specific QoL scale (range 0-100). Mann-Whitney Wilcoxon test was used to assess differences in the median QoL scores by HIV status and by participants’ perceptions of treatment affecting their current QoL.

Results: Median age of participants was 64 years; most were women (68.6%), had an educational level ≥ high school (62.9%) and public health insurance (74.3%). Median years since anal cancer diagnosis was 2 years, most participants had a stage 1 and 2 (36.8%) diagnosis, and the majority (97.1%) received treatment. Most common treatment received was chemotherapy (88.2%), followed by radiotherapy (85.3%) and surgery (44.1%); 45.7% of participants received treatment within 1 year before the interview. 20.0% of participants had HIV; median years of living with HIV was 30 years. Lower QoL was seen in people with HIV in comparison to those without HIV, but the only significant difference was in the global health scale, where people with HIV had lower QoL (58) than those without HIV (75) (p&lt;0.05). Among patients receiving specific treatments, 33.3%, 51.7% and 40.0% reported that chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and surgery continued to affect their QoL; the worst QoL were observed among them for global health status as compared to their counterparts (p&lt;0.05). Participants who said that radiotherapy continues to affect their QoL had lower median scores than those who did not in the physical (73 vs. 93), emotional (75 vs. 92), and social functional scales (67 vs. 100) (p&lt;0.05) and higher median scores for the scales of the symptoms of pain (33 vs 17) and insomnia (67 vs 33) (p&lt;0.05). Similar results were seen among those that said surgery continues to affect their QoL; lower median scores were seen in the role (75 vs 100) and cognitive (75 vs 100) functional scales, and higher median scores were observed for the symptoms scales of pain (33 vs 17) and insomnia (67 vs 33) than among their counterparts (p&lt;0.05). Although worst QoL was reported among those who said chemotherapy continues to affect their QoL, no significant differences were seen.

Conclusion: People with HIV had significant lower QoL than those without HIV, and participants that perceived that radiotherapy and surgery continued to affect their QoL had the worst QoL indicators. Additional studies should focus on comparing QoL before and after treatment.

Citation Format: Jeslie M. Ramos- Cartagena, Karen J. Ortiz-Ortiz, Vivian Colón-López, Ignacio Echenique, Roberto Santiago, Jose S. Reyes, Ashish A. Deshmukh, Ana P. Ortiz. Quality of life among anal cancer patients in Puerto Rico [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2023; Part 1 (Regular and Invited Abstracts); 2023 Apr 14-19; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(7_Suppl):Abstract nr 750.