Background: Lung cancer has the highest incidence rate and mortality rate of all malignancies. In recent years, the therapeutic effect of lung cancer has been greatly improved, but the fear of disease progression still directly affects the quality of life (QOL) of patients. The aim of this study was to evaluate the factors affecting the progression of fear of disease and its impact on the quality of life in patients with lung cancer.
Methods: From December 2019 to February 2020, 102 patients with lung cancer in the Department of Thoracic Oncology of a top three hospital were investigated by using the simplified fear of disease progression scale (FoP-Q-SF) and the quality-of-life scale for cancer patients (FACT-G). Data were collected and statistically analyzed by SPSS25.0 software.
Results: A total of 110 questionnaires were distributed and 102 valid questionnaires were recovered, indicating a recovery rate of 92.7%. The results of multiple stepwise regression analyses showed that blood group, monthly income, and mood state were the influencing factors for the progression of phobic diseases in cancer patients (P<0.05), and the score of progression of phobic disease was negatively correlated with the quality-of-life score (r=-0.382).
Conclusions: The progress of phobic diseases in patients with lung cancer seriously affects their QOL, and further attention by medical staff in providing health education, psychological counseling, social support, and other measures is required.
Keywords: Lung cancer; fear of disease progression; quality of life (QOL).