Fatores que interferem na qualidade de vida de pacientes com câncer em tratamento clínico

Abstract

Objective: To establish the factors that interfere in the quality of life of cancer patients and to compare the overall health and quality of life (QoL) of these patients according to sociodemographic, clinical characteristics, nutritional statusand appetite impairment.Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out with 110 cancer patients undergoing clinical treatment. Sociodemographic, clinical, QoL, nutritional status and appetite variables were collected. The instruments used were the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC QLQ C-30), the Subjective Global Assessment (SGA) and the Cancer Appetite and Symptom Questionnaire (CASQ). Tests of comparisons of global health averages and QoL were conduct. A significance level of 5% was consider for all analyzes. Results: The majority were female (62.72%) with a mean age of 74.41±24.54 years, married (70.0%), without work activity (51.82%) and belonging to economic class B (54.54%). The most prevalent type of cancer in this population was breast cancer (30.0%), with staging IV (34.44%) and absence of metastases (53.64%). The nutritional status evaluated by the SGA and the appetite impairment were identified as QoL interfering factors, presenting significant differences in the means of global health and QoL among the groups. Emotional function (EF) was the most impaired in this study. Fatigue was the symptom that presented the highest score, followed by insomnia and lack of appetite.Conclusion: Nutritional status and appetite impairment are factors that interfere in the global health/QoL aspects of cancer patients.Key words: Neoplasms, quality of life, appetite, nutritional impact symptoms, nutritional status