Quality of Life and Associated Factor among Cancer Survivors in Korea

Layoung Park; Seungyup Jun; Jung Ah Lee

doi:10.15384/kjhp.2018.18.1.7

Korean J Health Promot > Volume 18(1); 2018 > Article

Park, Jun, and Lee: Quality of Life and Associated Factor among Cancer Survivors in Korea

Original Article

Korean Journal of Health Promotion 2018;18(1):7-14.

Published online: March 31, 2018

DOI: https://doi.org/10.15384/kjhp.2018.18.1.7

Quality of Life and Associated Factor among Cancer Survivors in Korea

Layoung Park, Seungyup Jun, Jung Ah Lee

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

Received January 11, 2018 Accepted March 14, 2018

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.

ABSTRACT

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.

Keywords: Cancer survivors, Quality of life, Income, Educational status, Comorbidity

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Table 1

Basic characteristics of study participants (n=16,522)

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.

Table 2

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.