Quality of life and its influential factors of cancer patients in Shanghai

BACKGROUND OBJECTIVE: Now the quality of life of cancer patients has become one of the end-points in cancer researches. It reflects the survival status and prognosis of cancer patients. This study was to determine the quality of life and its influential factors of cancer patients who live in communities in Shanghai, and to design suitable intervention and evaluate the effectiveness of community-based health care service. METHODS: A total of 7 967 cancer patients who lived in communities in Shanghai were selected through searching Shanghai Cancer Patient Database by cluster sampling. Questionnaire with FACT-G Self-rating Scale was applied; 6 694 valid questionnaires were obtained. The scores of quality of life were calculated and analyzed with multiple linear regression model to determine the influential factors. RESULTS: The average score of quality of life of the 6 694 cancer patients was 107.62±18.77 (95% CI=107.17-108.07). Duration since diagnosis, stage at diagnosis, metastasis status, treatment effect, KPS score, and pain VAS score were main influential factors of quality of life of the cancer pateints. CONCLUSION: Early diagnosis of cancer, improvement of the treatment effect, and providing community health care and analgesic services might improve the quality of life of cancer patients who live in communities.