Assessment of quality of life of cancer patients attending oncology clinic in a tertiary care hospital of Jharkhand, India

Abstract

Background: Detection of cancer brings many changes in the life of a patient. For some of them it is a life changing experience. This study was done to assess the quality of life of the patients after the detection of cancer. Methods: It was a cross sectional, descriptive and hospital based study. Total duration of study was 5 months (December2014-April2015), conducted in Oncology Department of Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) Ranchi. A total of 59 cancer patients were selected as study subjects and interviewed by a validated questionnaire. Results: A total of 59 cancer patients were included in the study, of which 26 (44.10%) were males and 33 (55.90%) were females. A majority of the patients (62.7%) were in the age range of 40-60 years. 76.3% of cancer patients were living a below average quality of life. The study population had different types of cancers. Among females 57.6% patients were suffering from CA Breast and among males 34.6% of the patients were suffering from CA lung. Conclusions: Most of the patients who came to the oncology dept. of RIMS, Ranchi during our period of study had unsatisfactory quality of life.