Abstract
The study aimed to identify and compare the factors affecting health-related quality of life (HRQoL) depending on the occupational status of cancer survivors. This study was a secondary data analysis from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) from 2014 to 2018. Hierarchical multivariate linear regression was used to investigate the factors affecting the HRQoL of each group. Non-working cancer survivors had significantly lower HRQoL than working cancer survivors (p < 0.001). A hierarchical multiple regression model showed that demographic, health-related, and psychological characteristics explained 62.0% of non-working cancer survivors’ HRQoL (F = 4.29, p < 0.001). Among the input variables, health-related characteristics were the most influential factors (ΔR2 = 0.274, F = 9.84, p < 0.001). For working cancer survivors, health-related characteristics were the only variable that was statistically associated with HRQoL (F = 5.556, p < 0.001). It is important to enhance physical activities and manage the chronic disease to improve the HRQoL of working cancer survivors. Further, managing health-related characteristics, including depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation, is necessary for non-working cancer survivors. Regarding working survivors, psychological factors such as depressive symptoms and suicidal tendencies did not affect HRQoL. Therefore, an early and effective return to work program should be developed for the improvement of their HRQoL.
Highlights
Comparing the demographic characteristics of cancer survivors depending on their occupational status, there were statistically significant differences in the health-related quality of life (HRQoL)
The study aimed to identify the factors affecting HRQoL depending on the occupational status of cancer survivors based on the data of the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES)
The findings show that promoting physical activity and managing the disease is essential to maintain workers’
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Due to the recent increase in early cancer detection and advanced cancer treatment technology, more than 16.9 million Americans (5% of the United States population) with a history of cancer were alive in 2019 [1]. The number of cancer survivors continues to increase despite an overall decline in age-standardized incidence rate [2]. With the increasing survival rate of cancer patients, there is more interest in the quality of life (QoL)
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