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Health-related quality of life among cancer survivors in rural China

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of the study was to examine health-related quality of life (HRQoL) about the most common cancers survivors (lung, stomach, colorectal, breast, and esophageal cancer) in rural China.

Methods

We administrated a cross-sectional study in three counties in Shandong province from August to September 2017. The five-level EuroQol-5-dimension (EQ-5D-5L) questionnaire was used to measure the HRQoL among cancer patients at least 8 months post-diagnosis. The Chinese population-based preference trade-off time (TTO) model and discrete choice experiment (DCE) were used to convert the EQ-5D-5L utility score. Tobit regression model was used to identify independent associations between socio-demographic, clinical variables with the HRQoL.

Results

In total, 452 cancer survivors were included. The mean EQ-5D-5L utility scores and Visual Analog Scale (EQ-VAS) scores were 0.841 (SD = 0.233) and 70.35 (SD = 18.80) for cancer survivors, respectively. Among the five dimensions, 58.6% of survivors had at least slight levels of pain/discomfort, and 39.2% showed at least slight levels of anxiety/depression. The influencing factors of HRQoL included cancer stage at diagnosis, tumor site, comorbidities, annual household income, and migrant worker status (rural-to-urban migration). Compared to other cancer patients, lung cancer patients had the lowest HRQoL. Higher household income and being a migrant worker were associated with a higher HRQoL for cancer survivors.

Conclusions

Cancer survivors in rural China have deteriorated HRQoL, and a substantial number of survivors have pain/discomfort problems. Our study provides detailed data on HRQoL of rural cancer survivors for future supportive and survivorship care in China.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank all the local participants for their support and hard work in launching and implementing this ongoing study.

Funding

This study was funded by the China Medical Board (CMB 13-160).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Health Care Management, Shandong University, Jinan, China

    Mingzhu Su, Xingxing Hua, Nengliang Yao & Xiaojie Sun

  2. NHC Key Laboratory of Health Economics and Policy Research, Shandong University, Jinan, China

    Mingzhu Su, Xingxing Hua, Nengliang Yao & Xiaojie Sun

  3. Shandong Provincial Cancer Hospital Affiliated to Shandong University, Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, Jinan, China

    Jialin Wang

  4. Feicheng People’s Hospital, Feicheng, Shandong, China

    Deli Zhao

  5. Health and Family Planning Commission of Linqu County, Linqu, Shandong, China

    Weidong Liu

  6. Rushan Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Rushan, Shandong, China

    Yuewei Zou

  7. Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA

    Roger Anderson

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  1. Mingzhu Su
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Correspondence to Xiaojie Sun.

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Conflict of interest

The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in this study are in accordance with ethical standards of the Institutional Review Board at School of Public Health of Shandong University (No. 20140201), and with the Declaration of Helsinki.

Informed consent

Written informed consent was obtained from all participants before data collection.

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Su, M., Hua, X., Wang, J. et al. Health-related quality of life among cancer survivors in rural China. Qual Life Res 28, 695–702 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-018-2038-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-018-2038-6

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