Preoperative psychological global well being index (PGWBI) predicts postoperative quality of life for patients with non-small cell lung cancer managed with thoracic surgery

Objective: Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients surgically treated often experienced a postoperative disability related to the surgery but did notbenefit froma long-termsurvival advantage (postoperative deathand relapse).Therefore, improvement of qualityof life (QOL) for all NSCLC patients surgically treated is necessary and the assessment of factors influencing the short-termpostoperative QOL is required.Therefore, a prospective study to assess the value of the psychological global well being index (PGWBI) to predict short-term postoperative QOL was conducted. Patients and methods: Prospective study in Academic Hospital’s departments of thoracic oncology and surgery. Socio-demographic and clinical characteristics as well as PGWBI scores of 110 NSCLC patients referred for thoracic surgery were prospectively compared to postoperative QOL evaluated by the mean of the EORTC QLQ-C30 and LC13 questionnaires, completed before hospital discharge.Results:Eightyfour patients completed the postoperative QOL questionnaires. In the univariate analysis, most of the PGWBI scores significantly correlated with the postoperative QOL. Also, patients living alone presented with a significantly higher risk of experiencing a poor postoperative QOL. In the multivariate analysis, patients showing a lower preoperative global health status as evaluated through the PGWBI experienced a statistically significant lower postoperative global QOL (hazard ratio (HR) = 1.39, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.12—1.74, p = 0.003) as well as a reduced physical (HR = 1.32, 95% CI 1.09—1.60, p = 0.004) and emotional (HR = 1.21, 95% CI 1.06—1.39, p = 0.004) functions. Conclusions: A simple assessmentofpatientsathigherriskofapoorshort-termpostoperativeQOLcouldbeeasilyperformedpreoperatively,takingintoaccountcertain