Quality of life in lung cancer patients: does socioeconomic status matter?
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Quality of life in lung cancer patients: does socioeconomic status matter? Ali Montazeri*1,2, David J Hole2, Robert Milroy3, James McEwen2 and Charles R Gillis2 Address: 1Iranian Institute for Health Sciences Research, Tehran, Iran, 2Public Health and Health Policy, Division of Community Based Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland, UK and 3Department of Respiratory Medicine, Stobhill NHS Trust, Glasgow, Scotland, UK Email: Ali Montazeri* - [email protected]; David J Hole - [email protected]; Robert Milroy - [email protected]; James McEwen - [email protected]; Charles R Gillis - [email protected] * Corresponding author
Published: 9 June 2003 Health and Quality of Life Outcomes 2003, 1:19
Received: 18 February 2003 Accepted: 9 June 2003
This article is available from: http://www.hqlo.com/content/1/1/19 © 2003 Montazeri et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article: verbatim copying and redistribution of this article are permitted in all media for any purpose, provided this notice is preserved along with the article's original URL.
Abstract Background: As part of a prospective study on quality of life in newly diagnosed lung cancer patients an investigation was carried out to examine whether there were differences among patients' quality of life scores and their socioeconomic status. Methods: Quality of life was measured at two points in time (baseline and three months after initial treatment) using three standard instruments; the Nottingham Health Profile (NHP), the European Organization for Research and Cancer Treatment Quality of Life Questionnaire (EORTC QLQ-C30) and its lung cancer supplement (QLQ-LC13). Socioeconomic status for each individual patient was derived using Carstairs and Morris Deprivation Category ranging from 1 (least deprived) to 7 (most deprived) on the basis of the postcode sector of their address. Results: In all, 129 lung cancer patients entered into the study. Of these data for 82 patients were complete (at baseline and follow-up). 57% of patients were of lower socioeconomic status and they had more health problems, less functioning, and more symptoms as compared to affluent patients. Of these, physical mobility (P = 0.05), energy (P = 0.01), role functioning (P = 0.04), physical functioning (P = 0.03), and breathlessness (P = 0.02) were significant at baseline. However, at follow-up assessment there was no significant difference between patient groups nor did any consistent pattern emerge. Conclusion: At baseline assessment patients of lower socioeconomic status showed lower health related quality of life. Since there was no clear trend at follow-up assessment this suggests that patients from different socioeconomic status responded to treatment similarly. In general, the findings suggest that quality of life is not only the outcome of the disease and its treatment, but is also highly dependent on each patients' socioeconomic characteristics.
Background Lung cancer is one of the common ca
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