Influences of transitional care on early quality of life in esophageal cancer patients after surgery

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Objective To investigate the influences of transitional care on early quality of life in esophageal cancer patients after surgery. Methods A total of 195 patients with esophageal cancer were randomly divided into control group (98 cases, regular follow-up) and observation group (97 cases, transitional care) according to random number table. And then, the readmission rate of 2 months post discharge was compared in patients between two groups. Besides, quality of life of patients was evaluated with the quality of life questionnaire core 30 (QLQ-C30) at discharge and 2 months after intervention. Results The readmission rate of 2 months post-discharge of observation group and control group were 5.2%, 16.3% with a significant difference (χ2=6.332, P=0.012). There were no statistically significant differences in the scores of functional items and symptom items of QLQ-C30 (P>0.05). After the interventions, the scores of general health, emotional function and social function in observation group were higher than those in control group; the scores of fatigue, pain, insomnia, difficult breathing, loss of appetite in observation group were lower than those in control group; there were statistically significant differences between two groups (P<0.05). Conclusions Transitional care can provide positive guidance for living condition of patients with esophageal cancer, improve patients′ living condition so as to improve patients′ early quality of life. Key words: Esophageal neoplasms; Quality of life; Transitional care