One-Year Quality of Life Trends in Early-Stage Lung Cancer Patients After Lobectomy.

Chiara Marzorati,Francesca Pavan,Monica Casiraghi,Ketti Mazzocco,Lorenzo Spaggiari,Dario Monzani,Gabriella Pravettoni,Massimo Monturano

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.534428

Abstract

Objective: Quality of Life (QoL) is an important predictor of patient's recovery and survival in lung cancer patients. The aim of the present study is to identify 1-year trends of lung cancer patients' QoL after robot-assisted or traditional lobectomy and investigate whether clinical (e.g., pre-surgery QoL, type of surgery, and perioperative complications) and sociodemographic variables (e.g., age) may predict these trends.Methods: An Italian sample of 176 lung cancer patients undergoing lobectomy completed the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) Quality of Life Questionnaire—Core 30 (QLQ-C30) at the pre-hospitalization (t0), 30 days (t1), 4 months (t2), 8 months (t3), and 12 months (t4) after surgery. Sociodemographic and clinical characteristics (age, gender, perioperative complications, and type of surgery) were also collected. The individual change over time of the 15 dimensions of the EORTC QLQ-C30 and the effects of pre-surgery scores of QoL dimensions, type of surgery, perioperative complications, and age on patients' QoL after surgery were studied with the individual growth curve (IGC) models.Results: Patients had a good recovery after lobectomy: functioning subscales improved over time, while most of the symptoms became less severe over the care process. Perioperative complications, type of surgery, pre-surgery status, and age significantly affected these trends, thus becoming predictors of patients' QoL.Conclusion: This study highlights different 1-year trends of lung cancer patients' QoL. The measurement of pre- and post-surgery QoL and its clinical and sociodemographic covariables would be necessary to better investigate patients' care process and implement personalized medicine in lung cancer hospital divisions.

Highlights

Lung cancer is the most common cancer in both genders and the first cause of cancer death worldwide
Primary malignant lung cancers are classified into two different categories: non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and small-cell lung cancer (SCLC); most lung cancer patients are diagnosed as NSCLC
The aim of the present study is to identify 1-year trends of lung cancer patients’ Quality of Life (QoL) after robot-assisted or traditional surgery and investigate whether clinical and sociodemographic variables may predict these trends

Summary

Introduction

Lung cancer is the most common cancer in both genders and the first cause of cancer death worldwide. Lung cancer trends are different among countries: Europe has lower trends than America (Siegel et al, 2016; Malvezzi et al, 2017; Bray et al, 2018). Providing an overall 5-years survival rate of 55–77%, a resection surgical intervention is the recommended treatment for early-stage NSCLC (Polanski et al, 2016). Treatment efficacy, patient survival, and QoL are strictly related and mutually reinforcing. In this perspective, the QoL measurement is necessary to help the stakeholders having a more complete framework of patient’s recovery and improving the decision-making process of the right treatment without being affected by cognitive biases (Mazzocco and Cherubini, 2010; Braun et al, 2011; Pravettoni et al, 2016)

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion