Saúde global e qualidade de vida de pacientes com câncer em tratamento quimioterápico

Abstract

This study aims to evaluate the Quality of Life (QoL) of cancer patients in chemotherapy treatment and to compare the means of global health and quality of life according to sociodemographic and clinical variables. It is a cross-sectional study, with a non-probabilistic sampling design. The research was developed in a private clinic specialized in the treatment of cancer, whose patients were adults and elderly patients with any type of neoplasia of both genders. A total of 49 patients were treated on an outpatient basis. Socio-demographic data (age, sex, marital status, labor activity and economic class), clinical status (diagnosis, metastasis, tumor site, disease staging and BMI) and QOL were collected, whose instrument chosen for evaluation was the Quality of Life Questionnaire Core 30 EORTC QLQ-C30. For the description of the variables, the mean and standard deviation measures were used for the continuous ones, and percentages for the categorical variables. As a result, the mean age of the patients was 58.39 ± 14.13, the majority being female, and with a diagnosis of breast cancer. The least compromised functions were cognitive function (CF) and social function (FS), and the function with the greatest impairment was the emotional function (FE). The most commonly reported symptoms were fatigue and change in appetite.