Quality of life assessment among cancer patients undergoing treatment in a rural tertiary care center

QoL among cancer patients has various domains such as Physical, Social, Environmental and Psychological domain. Hence it becomes important to know the domain of QoL which is most affected. This knowledge can provide an insight to address the specific domain by providing specific measures among cancer patients.

To Study the profile of cancer patients in tertiary care center, to assess the quality of life among cancer patients undergoing treatment and to correlate the domains of quality of life with duration of treatment.

Hospital based Cross-sectional study was conducted for three months among cancer patients aged > 20 years at a tertiary care centre. 90 cancer patients were included after obtaining informed consent and Data was collected using a pretested and structured questionnaire. QoL was measured using WHO BREF Questionnaire. Data was analyzed using SPSS 22 version. p value of <0.05 was considered as statistically significant.

Out of 90 subjects majority were in the age group < 50 years (47.8%), females (68.9%) and 85.6% were illiterates. 62% of them had head and neck cancer. Positive correlation was observed between duration of treatment and social domain. Head & neck cancer had lower QoL scores for all the domains except for social domain wherein cancer cervix had lower QoL scores for the same.

Quality of life was affected in cancer subjects; Social domain was the most affected. Hence it's most important to address the social issues associated with cancer & cancer treatment. Head & neck cancer was found to have affected all the domains of QoL in this study.