Corrleation of health-related quality of life (HRQL) of cancer patients and the mental component parameters of their family members

Abstract

e20619 Background: It is widely experienced that health-related quality of life (HRQL) is greatly influenced in the family members of cancer patients. The aim of this study was to find the correlation of the HRQL parameters in cancer patients with the main mental component parameters of patients’ relatives. Methods: 122 cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy in our department (49 men and 73 women) of mean age 56.6 ±15.4 1SD and their 122 relatives that accompanied them (45 men and 77 women) of mean age 48.3 ±14.5 completed the validated SF-36 health survey by personal interview. The SF-36 health survey summarizes the functional health status and general health into eight scales with higher scores (0–100 range) reflecting better-perceived health. In this study, physical functioning (PF), role physical (RP), bodily pain (BP), general health perception (GH), vitality (VT), social functioning (SF), role emotional (RE), and mental health (MH) of the patients were correlated with the SF, RE, MH of their family members using the Spearman's test. Data analysis was performed with SPSS version 13.0 and correlations were considered statistically significant when p<0.05. Results: Table 1 summarizes the results of our study. Social Functioning and Mental Health of family members are highly correlated with the HRQL parameters of cancer patients. The RE does not seem to be affected. Conclusions: HRQL of cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy is highly correlated with the SF and the MH of their relatives. This observation highlights the need to develop more oriented supportive programs for both the patients and their family memebers. Abbreviations: PF = Physical Functioning, RP = Role Physical, BP = Bodily Pain, GH = General Health, VT = Vitality, SF = Social Functioning, RE = Role Emotional, MH = Mental Health; NS=Not Significant. * = 0.05. ** = 0.01. [Table: see text] No significant financial relationships to disclose.