Abstract
Background Gastric cancer (GC) is one of the leading causes of cancer-related death in Vietnam. Research on health-related quality of life of Vietnamese gastric cancer patients is still in its infancy. Aim To assess the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of GC patients using the 15D instrument. Materials and Method 182 Vietnamese gastric cancer patients were selected to be interviewed and their HRQOL was assessed using the generic 15D questionnaire. Tables regarding history, disease characteristics, and HRQOL of participants were formulated according to genders using STATA 12.0. Results The average age of the participants was 60.8 ± 11.6. The average time from diagnosis to the date of interview was 14.8 ± 8.4 months. The health-related quality of life (HRQOL) index score of gastric cancer patients using the 15D instrument was 0.92 ± 0.08, in which the “sexual activity” dimension had the lowest score of 0.66. Also, our study found several factors affecting HRQOL, including age, occupation, education, disease stage, treatment, and time from the date of diagnosis. Conclusion The 15D instrument was a suitable tool to assess Vietnamese gastric cancer patients' quality of life. Findings from the study suggest the importance of frequently measuring personal functioning and performance of GC patients as parts of QOL assessment during clinical examination. It also implies the needs for more focused policies on raising the overall quality of life of patients such as encouragement of periodical HQROL assessment and acknowledging HRQOL as a treatment/intervention goal besides the 5-year survival rate.
Highlights
Being the third leading cause of cancer death and the fifth most common cancer worldwide, gastric cancer (GC) can be considered one of the world’s biggest medical challenges [1]
Our study found several factors affecting health-related quality of life (HRQOL), including age, occupation, education, disease stage, treatment, and time from the date of diagnosis
In 2018, more than a million new cases of Gastric cancer (GC) and about 783 thousand deaths have been reported by GLOBOCAN, most of which occurs in East Asia with the age-standardized incidence rate (ASR) of 32.1 per 100,000 for males and 13.2 per 100,000 for females [1]
Summary
Being the third leading cause of cancer death and the fifth most common cancer worldwide, gastric cancer (GC) can be considered one of the world’s biggest medical challenges [1]. The mortality rates of GC for both males and females were among the highest of cancers in Vietnam, surpassed only by liver cancer and lung cancer [3] This has been argued to be attributable to the high prevalence of Helicobacter pylori (as much as 75% in Vietnamese adults), in combination with other risk factors such as smoking, obesity, and socioeconomic status [4, 5]. Findings from the study suggest the importance of frequently measuring personal functioning and performance of GC patients as parts of QOL assessment during clinical examination It implies the needs for more focused policies on raising the overall quality of life of patients such as encouragement of periodical HQROL assessment and acknowledging HRQOL as a treatment/intervention goal besides the 5-year survival rate
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