Quality of life in older French long-term lung cancer survivors: VICAN5 national survey

Abstract

Objectives: This study aimed to describe quality of life (QoL) five years after diagnosis, in a representative sample of lung cancer (LC) survivors, to compare the QoL of survivors aged 70 years or older with that of younger ones, and to identify factors associated with poorer long-term QoL in both age groups.

Materials and methods: Our study sample consists of all individuals with a LC diagnosed between January 2010 and December 2011, who participated in the French national survey VICAN 5.

Results: A total of 371 participants had LC. At the time of the survey, 21.3% of the participants were 70 years or older. In this older age group, feeling self-conscious about appearance and suspected neuropathic pain were independently associated with physical QoL impairment and lower Post-Traumatic Growth Inventory score, and suspected neuropathic pain was associated with impaired mental QoL. In younger patients, impaired physical QoL was independently associated with male gender, metastatic cancer, suspected neuropathic pain, report of severe after-effects of LC and difficulty breathing at rest in the past 7 days, and impaired mental QoL was independently associated with male gender, impaired ECOG-PS, and anxiety.

Conclusion: Factors associated with an impaired QoL in LC survivors, varied according to patient age. In both populations, psychological support and adapted physical activity can be offered to improve mental QoL and physical symptomatology. For older survivors with neuropathic pain, analgesic therapies can be discussed to improve long-term QoL.

Keywords: Cohort study; Drug toxicities; Fatigue; France; Health-Related Quality of Life; Lung neoplasm; Neuropathic pain; Older adults; Posttraumatic Growth; Survivor.