Quality of life in endometrial cancer survivors

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the health-related quality of life in survivors of endometrial cancer (EC), and to identify common problems that they may encounter, in the hope of paving the way to improving their quality of life. Study design: We investigated and compared the health conditions and quality of life between EC survivors and the general population as a control group. There were 61 EC patients who were at clinical stage I–III and survived for 5–7 years after the primary treatments. The control group was composed of 527 healthy postmenopausal women. All of them completed a self-evaluated questionnaire pertaining to personal conditions, medical surveillance, individual well-being and quality of life. Results: The EC survivors were divided into two groups: an older group ( n=34) and a younger group ( n=27). The latter was compared with the controls. In general, most of the EC survivors were old, low-educated women. The majority of them were in a poor condition. They were inactive, received medical surveillance and had regular medication. The distribution of various complications was higher in the older EC group while the climacteric symptoms were more common in the younger EC group. In both EC groups, the quality of life was lower than in the controls. The prevalence of somatic symptoms was higher in the older EC survivors and psychological problems were a common complaint of the younger EC survivors. Conclusion: The quality of life was poor in the EC survivors. To improve their life quality, earlier psychological counseling should be offered to EC survivors, in particular to younger and single women, and hormone replacement therapy (HRT) should be recommended, but on a selective basis, to those patients at low risk of cancer recurrence.