Objectives: Our objective was to investigate the association between herbal/botanic supplement use and perceived quality of life (QoL), cancer recurrence, and all-cause mortality in colon cancer patients.
Methods: Patients (n = 453) newly diagnosed with stage II adenocarcinoma of the colon between 2009 and 2011 were recruited from the North Carolina Central Cancer Registry. Data including demographic variables, herbal medicine use and frequency, lifestyle, diet, cancer treatment, and QoL were collected by interviews at diagnosis (baseline) and 1 and 2 y after diagnosis. Mortality information was obtained via the National Death Index. The Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Colorectal (FACT-C) and Medical Outcomes Short Form 12 (SF-12) were used to evaluate QoL.
Results: At baseline, herbal/botanic supplement users were more likely to have a healthier lifestyle than non-users, including more physical activity (P <0.01), more fruit and vegetable consumption (P = 0.01), less smoking (P <0.01), and less energy intake from fat (P = 0.02). After adjustment for potential confounders, no significant association was found between herbal/botanic supplement use and QoL assessed by FACT-C and SF-12. Similarly, herbal/botanic supplement use was not associated with the risk of recurrence, all-cause mortality or the combined.
Conclusion: In this study, patients with stage II colon cancer using herbal/botanic supplements had no significant improvement in their QoL and no difference in odds of colon cancer recurrence and all-cause mortality over 2 y after diagnosis compared with those who did not use herbs/botanicals. Further studies are warranted to confirm the findings and to focus on types of herbal/botanic supplements.
Keywords: Botanic supplement; Cancer recurrence; Colon cancer; Mortality; Quality of life.
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