Health-related quality of life in family members of patients with an advanced cancer diagnosis: A one-year prospective study

Health and Quality of Life Outcomes

Gerd Ahlstrom³  Jan Mårtensson¹  Johannes Järhult²  Bo Rolander²  Catarina Sjolander² 

[1] The School of Health Sciences, Jönköping University, P.O. Box 1026, SE-551 11, Jönköping, Sweden;The Ryhov County Hospital, SE-551 85, Jönköping, Sweden;The Swedish Institute for Health Sciences, Department of Health Sciences, Lund University, Box 187SE–221 00, Lund, Sweden

关键词: Physical health dimension;    Mental health dimension;    Health-related quality of life;    Advanced cancer;    Family member;   

Others  :  825324
DOI  :  10.1186/1477-7525-10-89

 received in 2012-01-21, accepted in 2012-07-16,  发布年份 2012

【 摘 要 】

Background

Receiving a cancer diagnosis affects family members as well as the person diagnosed. Family members often provide support for the sick person in daily life out of duty and love, and may not always think of their own vulnerability to illness. To individualise support for them, family members who are most at risk for becoming ill must be identified.

The aim of this study was to investigate health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in family members of patients with advanced lung or gastrointestinal cancer 3 to 15 months after diagnosis.

Methods

Data on mental and physical dimensions of HRQOL were collected from family members of these patients in this prospective quantitative study. Five assessments using the Short Form 36 Health Survey (SF-36) and EuroQol (EQ-5D) were conducted during a 1-year period starting 3 months after diagnosis. Thirty-six family members completed the study, i.e. participated in all five data collections.

Results

No statistically significant changes in physical or mental HRQOL within the study group appeared over the 1-year follow-up. Compared with norm-based scores, family members had significantly poorer mental HRQOL scores throughout the year as measured by the SF-36. Family members also scored statistically significantly worse on the EQ-5D VAS in all five assessments compared to the norm-based score. Findings showed that older family members and partners were at higher risk for decreased physical HRQOL throughout the 1-year period, and younger family members were at higher risk for poorer mental HRQOL.

Conclusions

It is well known that ill health is associated with poor HRQOL. By identifying family members with poor HRQOL, those at risk of ill health can be identified and supported. Future large-scale research that verifies our findings is needed before making recommendations for individualised support and creating interventions best tailored to family members at risk for illness.

【 授权许可】

   
2012 Sjolander et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 图 表 】

Figure 1.

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