Journal Article

Health-related quality of life and supportive care needs in young adult cancer survivors—a longitudinal population-based study

Smedby, Karin E., Ahlgren, Johan, Henriksson, Roger, Wettergren, Lena, Hellman, Kristina, Ståhl, Olof, Wide, Alexandra, Lampic, Claudia

2024

Overview

Purpose To examine health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and supportive care needs among young adult (YA) cancer survivors up to 3 years post-diagnosis. Methods A national cohort of individuals diagnosed at 18–39 years with breast, cervical, ovarian, or testicular cancer, lymphoma or brain tumor was approached with surveys at 1.5 ( n  = 1010, response rate 67%) and 3 ( n  = 722) years post-diagnosis. HRQoL was measured using the EORTC QLQ-C30. Scores were dichotomized using cut-off scores to predict supportive care needs in the Supportive Care Needs Survey-Long Form 59 (SCNS-LF59). Swedish cancer quality registers provided clinical data. Factors predicting need of support at 1.5 and 3 years post-diagnosis were identified using logistic regression. Results HRQoL improvements over time were trivial to small. At both time points, a majority of respondents rated HRQoL levels indicating supportive care needs. At 1.5 years post-diagnosis, the risk of having support needs was lower among survivors with testicular cancer (compared to lymphoma) or university-level education, and higher among those on treatment (predominantly endocrine therapy). At 3 years post-diagnosis, when controlling for previous HRQoL scores, most correlations persisted, and poor self-rated household economy and chronic health conditions were additionally associated with supportive care needs. Conclusion A majority of YAs diagnosed with cancer rate HRQoL at levels indicating support needs up to 3 years post-diagnosis. Testicular cancer survivors are at lower risk of having support needs. Concurrent health conditions and poor finances are linked to lower HRQoL. More efforts are needed to provide adequate, age-appropriate support to YA cancer survivors.

• Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg,Springer,Springer Nature B.V
• Subject: Adolescent / Adult / Brain / Brain cancer / Brain tumors / Breast cancer / Cancer / Cancer survivors / Cancer Survivors - psychology / Cancer Survivors - statistics & numerical data / Cervical cancer / Chronic illnesses / Data quality / Endocrine therapy / Female / Health / Health care expenditures / Health services / Health Services Needs and Demand / Health status / Higher education / Hormones / HRQoL / Humans / Logistic Models / Longitudinal Studies / Lymphoma / Male / Medical diagnosis / Medical treatment / Medicine / Medicine & Public Health / Needs / Neoplasms - psychology / Neoplasms - therapy / Non-Hodgkin's lymphomas / Nursing / Nursing Research / Oncology / Oncology, Experimental / Pain Medicine / Polls & surveys / Population-based studies / Psycho-oncology / Quality of care / Quality of Life / Rehabilitation Medicine / Respondents / Scores / Self evaluation / Social Support / Supportive care needs / Surveys / Surveys and Questionnaires / Survivor / Survivors / Sweden / Teenagers / Testicular cancer / Tumors / Young Adult / Young adults / Youth