Background: The population of gynaecological cancer survivors is growing. However, there is little knowledge of the long-term quality of life among these former patients. The aim of this study was to investigate the long-term quality of life in women treated successfully for gynaecological cancer and a control group of representative women selected from the general population.
Material and methods: The study comprised women aged 30-75 years residing in the central part of Norway. Cases were 319 gynaecological cancer survivors treated at St Olav's Hospital Trondheim, Norway, between 1987 and 1996, whereas 1276 age-matched women selected at random from the general population served as controls. The study population was identified and the respondents were invited to answer a postal questionnaire. After one reminder, the response rate was 55% (176/319) and 41% (521/1276) for cases and controls, respectively. Sixteen cases and 28 controls had incomplete responses to most questions and were excluded from the analyses. Eligible for the final analyses were 160 cases and 493 controls. Ferrans & Powers' Quality of Life Index (QLI) was used. All analyses were performed in SPSS version 13.0 with chi-square (categorical variables) and Mann-Whitney (continuous variables) tests. p <or= 0.05 is the level of statistical significance.
Results: Cases had on an average, a complete recurrence-free period of 12 years (range 7-18). No differences were detected between cases and controls in the global quality of life or in any of the four sub-dimensions of QLI. Furthermore, no difference was found in co-morbidity, but cases consulted more often hospital physicians than controls did.
Interpretation: Long-term gynaecological cancer survivors enjoy the same quality of life as women in the general population.