Cancer: the quality of life remains good two years after diagnosis

The physical quality of life and / or mental health of people with cancer is , two years after diagnosis, lower than the general population , according to data from a study by the Directorate of Research , Studies, evaluation and statistics ( Drees )
Interviewed two years after the diagnosis of cancer, 4270 patients agreed to share their lives and respond to the questionnaire "SF 36" with 36 questions relating to eight areas of the patient's life ( physical activity limitations due to physical activity , pain, social life with others, mental health, role limitations due to emotional state , vitality, perceived health ) during the four weeks preceding the survey .

It shows that almost half of cancer patients suffer from poor physical quality of life and four in ten of a deterioration in their mental quality of life , compared to the general population of the same sex and same age.

These are , not surprisingly , patients had to suffer the heaviest treatment , whose disease was progressive in two years of diagnosis and those with lung and upper aerodigestive tract malignancies or who had the worst scores.

Areas are perceived by patients as the most degraded are "limitations due to physical condition " and " vitality " , while the " social life with other " proves to be less affected by the cancer disease.

The authors of the survey observed heterogeneity of responses depending on the type of tumor. Thus men suffering from prostate cancer have the lowest quality of life deteriorated in most areas . Among women with breast cancer, it is the " mental health " is the most impaired, other areas seem unaffected . In contrast, patients with hematologic malignancies have a relatively good mental health when they feel a sharp deterioration in other areas of their lives that holders of other tumors.

Finally, three-quarters of patients are left with sequelae of disease or treatment, only half of them are fairly or very annoying . Again, these are the patients who underwent the most intensive treatment ( combining surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy) who complain the most.