Factors Associated with Quality of Life in Adult Cancer Patients Undertaking Chemotherapy in Black Lion Specialized Referral Hospital Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Creators: name: Negewo, Asselefech
Publisher: name: National Academic Digital Repository of Ethiopia
Year: 2016

description: Background: In patients with different type of cancers the quality of life (QoL) improvement is the main goal. A cancer diagnosis is very stressful for people affecting all aspects of their being and quality of life. Up to date knowledge on QoL impairments throughout the entire treatment process, often including several treatment modalities is scarce in Ethiopia. Objective: To assess the quality of life of cancer patient undertaking chemotherapy. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in Addis Ababa University Black Lion Specialized Referral Hospital (BLSRH) Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from March15 to April 15 2016. A total of 200 cancer patients were included. The European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire (EORTC QOL C-30) translated in to Amharic, was used to measure Quality of life (QoL).The data was entered in to Epi data version 3.1 and analyzed with SPSS Version 20.Data were analyzed using logical regression analysis. p-value &lt;0.05 at 95%confidence interval(CI)for Odds Ratio(OR)was considered statically significant. Results: Among the participants, 144(72%) were women and 56(28%) were men and half of the participants were below the age of 18-40 years. Large proportion of patients were diagnosed with GI cancer, 80(40%) followed by breast cancer, 48(24%). The clinical stages during the beginning of therapy were at stage III 80(40%). The mean of global health status/QoL was 66.04(SD=17.22). Quality of life was found to be associated with some functional scales as emotional functioning p=0.042, social function, P=0.000, and symptom scales as pain, P=0.000 loss of appetite, P=0.000, dysnea p=0.003 and financial impact, P=0.000, but no associations were noted in relation to demographic characteristics except sex. Conclusions and recommendation In this study the cognitive, physical and role domain of QoL were the least affected, while the social and emotional functional domains were the most badly affected. In the symptom domain of Qol fatigue, nausea and vomiting, constipation and diarrhea were the least affected but pain, loss of appetite, dysnea, and financial domain the most affected Qol in adult cancer patients undertaking chemotherapy. Also the study showed that Qol improvement in patients took four cycles and more chemotherapy. Cancer is an important health issue influencing QoL. An appropriate treatment which may provide care to the cancer patients is CT. The obtained results here indicate a strong correlation between QoL and number of CT cycles in cancer patients. Quality of life assessments should be included in patient treatment protocols to improve their quality of life since being a cancer patient may be associated with a high level of impairment in different aspects of life. Future studies will be important to better identify factors associated with quality of life in adult cancer patients who are under taking chemotherapy. Key word: Cancer, Quality of life, EORTC QOL C-30