Korean J Health Promot KJHP Korean Journal of Health Promotion 2234-2141 2093-5676 Korean Society for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention 10.15384/kjhp.2018.18.1.7 Original Article Quality of Life and Associated Factor among Cancer Survivors in Korea Park Layoung Jun Seungyup Lee Jung Ah Department of Family Medicine, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea. Corresponding author: Jung Ah Lee, MD. Department of Family Medicine, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, 88 Olympic-ro 43-gil, Songpa-gu, Seoul 05505, Korea. Tel: +82-2-3010-1667, Fax: +82-2-3010-3815, junga_lee@amc.seoul.kr 03 2018 31 03 2018 18 1 7 14 11 01 2018 14 03 2018 Copyright © 2018 Korean Society for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention 2018 Korean Society for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Background

New and more effective treatments for cancer have resulted in individuals living longer with a better quality of life. Thus, the Quality of life (QoL) is now a major concern of cancer survivors. This study tried to identify the factors affecting the quality of life among cancer survivors.

 Methods

Data was collected from the sixth (2013-2015) National Health and Nutrition Survey. Among total 16,522 participants aged 19 years old or more, 721 cancer survivors who had any previous history of cancer were included in the analysis. QoL was measured using EuroQoL-5D which evaluated 5 domains including the problem of mobility, self-care, usual activity, pain, and anxiety.

 Results

Cancer survivors had lower QoL than the general population and participants with other chronic disease. Among cancer survivors, age had the strongest association with mobility. The problem of self-care was affected by age, female, income state, and comorbidity. More income had an impact on better self-care. The problem of usual activity was affected by job state, stress and comorbidity. There was a positive association between job status and the problem of usual activity. The problem of pain was related with female, education state, and stress. Higher education was associated with lower problem of pain. The problem of anxiety was in relation with age, female, and stress.

 Conclusions

To improve the QoL of cancer survivors, the appropriate intervention is needed for effective management considering the different factors which affect the QoL of the cancer survivors.

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Abbreviations: CLD, chronic liver disease; CKD, chronic kidney disease; EQ-5D, EuroQol-5D.

Values are presented as mean±standard error or number (%).

aThe number of participants was presented as unweighted numbers. The percentage, mean, and standard error of participants were calculated using weighted samples of complex sample design.

bP-value was calculated using chi-square test of complex sample design.

 Comparison of characteristics according to EQ-5D among cancer survivors

Abbreviations: EQ-5D, EuroQol-5D; CLD, chronic liver disease; CKD, chronic kidney disease.

Values are presented as number (%).

aThe number of participants was presented as unweighted numbers. The percentage, mean, and standard error of participants were calculated using weighted samples of complex sample design.

bP-value was calculated using chi-square test of complex sample design.

 Multivariate analysis of factors associated with low quality of life among cancer survivors

Abbreviations: CLD, chronic liver disease; CKD, chronic kidney disease.

Values are presented as odds ratio (95% confidence interval).

aAll variables were adjusted for oth.