Keywords
quality of life
socio-psychological support
How to Cite
Abstract
Introduction. Malignant tumors are the second most common cause of death in the population of Ukraine. Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women, and lung cancer among men. At the same time, there is a negative trend towards an increase in new cases of prostate cancer among the male population. In turn, gastric cancer is among the most common types of tumors in both male and female population of Ukraine.
The aim. Comparison of indicators of the quality of life of patients with breast cancer, prostate cancer, lung cancer, gastric cancer and identification of the main problems in their quality of life in order to optimize the medical care system for them.
Materials and methods. A questionnaire was conducted among patients with lung cancer (n=411), prostate cancer (n=408), breast cancer (n=400) and gastric cancer (n=404) on stage of their inpatient treatment in oncological institutions in nine regions of Ukraine, using the EORTC QLQ-C30 questionnaire.
Results and discussion. The best indicator of Global Health Status/QoL was found in patients with breast cancer (53,22 points on a 100-point scale), while the lowest was found in patients with lung cancer (49,12 points). Breast cancer patients are also characterized by the best results in all items of the functional scale and the QLQ-C30 symptom scale. In turn, patients with gastric cancer recorded the worst indicators both on the functional scale and on the QLQ-С30 symptom scale.
Conclusions. Based on the low quality of life indicators of cancer patients, it is important to create socio-psychological support for cancer patients and their family members, which will include the development and implementation of standardized psychological assistance and mental health care at all stages of diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation.
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