PR_024: Outcomes in Rehabilitation of Cancer Survivors From Different Ethnic Groups

Abstract

Objectives: To report on functional outcomes of rehabilitation programs in cancer survivors from multiple ethnic groups, and to compare these with outcomes in patients with noncancer diagnoses. Design: Control study of groups of cancer survivor rehabilitation inpatients, with contemporaneously treated controls individually matched for sex, age decade, lesion location, and ethnic group. Setting: Tertiary care rehabilitation unit in the most multicultural urban region in Australia. Participants: 154 cancer survivors and their matched controls, having spinal disease (n=34), intracranial lesions (n=46), pathologic fractures (n=20), and general debility (n=53). Intervention: Individual multidisciplinary rehabilitation programs. Main Outcome Measures: FIM scores at admission and discharge, length of stay (LOS), and discharge destination. Results: No significant differences were found in FIM progress and discharge scores, LOS, or discharge destinations, between cancer survivor and control patient groups, in any of the 4 syndrome clusters. No one broad ethnic group had a better rate of discharge to care at home than the others. Conclusions: Previous control studies of cancer survivor rehabilitation have not been matched for ethnic group, a potentially important variable in rehabilitation program participation and outcomes. Our results confirm that cancer survivors from widely varying ethnic settings complete rehabilitation programs with outcomes as good as those with noncancer diagnoses.