| Purpose:This study was to describe the status of cancer-related fatigue and quality of life among postoperative digestive system cancer patients in Yanbian area; to examine the relationship between cancer-related fatigue and quality of life.Methods:This study was a non-experiential correlational study using convenience sampling to enroll 160 postoperative digestive system cancer patients from 2 hospitals in Yanbian area. The questionnaire used in the study included 3 parts:demographic information, cancer fatigue scale, and quality of life scale. In the study, frequency analysis, descriptive statistics, independent t test, ANOVA, and Pearson correlation analysis were performed to analyze the data using SPSS 19.0.Results:The average of the subjects was 62.70 (SD=3.40), ranging from 38 to 89. The overall score of cancer-related fatigue in the subjects was 42.00 (SD=8.43), and was in a higher level. The scores of cancer-related fatigue was higher in older patients than the younger patients (P<0.05), and Korean-Chinese patients had higher level of caner-related fatigue than the Chinese patients (P<0.05). The patients who in high school or more had lower cancer-related fatigue than those in lower education (P <0.05). The patients without job had higher level of cancer-related fatigue than other patients, and the scores of somatic, emotional, and cognitive fatigue in patients who were workers was higher than the patients in managers (P<0.05). The patients who were in lower level of economic had higher level of fatigue than those in middle economic level (P<0.05), and those in higher level of economic had lower level of fatigue than those in middle economic level (P<0.05). Those patients who had surgery within 1 weeks had higher level of emotional fatigue than other patients (P<0.05), and those had surgery more than 3 weeks had lower levels of total fatigue and cognitive fatigue (P<0.05). The patients with chemotherapy or radiotherapy had higher scores of cognitive fatigue than those without (P<0.05).The scores in emotional function, cognitive function, social function and the total score in functional scale of quality of life was significantly lower than the reference values recommended by EORTC (P <0.05). The scores in syndrome scale were higher than the reference values (P<0.05). In those single items, the score in short of breath was lower than the reference value (P<0.05), and the scores in all other items were higher than the reference values (P<.0.05).The overall score of quality of life in postoperative digestive system cancer patients in Yanbian area was 86.43 (SD=19.59), and was in a lower lever. The scores of quality of life in the patients living in city was higher than those living in rural areas (P<0.05). The patients without job had lower level of quality life (P<0.05), and the mangers had higher level of quality of life (P<0.05) than other patients. Comparing those in lower level of economic status, those in higher level of economic status had higher scores of quality of life (P<0.05). The scores of quality of life in those with insurance was higher than those without (P<0.05), and the scores in the patients who had surgery 3 weeks later was higher than those who had surgery within 3 weeks (P<0.05).The over all cancer-related fatigue had significantly negative relationship with functional scale of of quality of life and overall health status (P<0.05), while had a positive relationship with syndrome scale and the all the single items (P<0.05). The somatic and cognitive fatigue had a significantly negative relationships with functional scale of quality of life and the overall health status (P<0.05), while had a positive relationships with somatic and all the single items (P<0.05). Emotional fatigue positively correlated with fatigue syndrome (P<0.05), didn’t correlated with other scales of quality of life (P>0.05).Conclusions:The cancer-related fatigue was in a higher level in the postoperative digestive system cancer patients in Yanbian area.The overall health status was in a lower level in the postoperative digestive system cancer patients in Yanbian area. In the functional scales, somatic and role function was in better level, compared with emotional, cognitive and social function.The patients had significant difference of cancer-related fatigue in several demographic characteristics including age, race type, education level, work status, economic level, course of disease, and therapy types.The patients had significant difference of quality of life in some demographic characteristics including living status, work status, economic level, insurance status, and course of disease.The cancer-related fatigue in the patients in this study had a significant positive relationships with the overall health status and functional scale, had had a negative relationships with syndrome scale and all the single items. |
PDF Full Text Request