Factors Predicting Postoperative Quality of Life among Rectal Cancer Patients in Thailand: A Retrospective Cohort Study

Abstract

Objective: The objectives of this study were to evaluate the postoperative quality of life (QoL) measures of Thai rectal cancer patients, and to determine which factors impact the QoL. Materials and Methods: We reviewed the medical records of rectal cancer patients who underwent abdominoperineal resection or low anterior resection between 2009 and 2012. We sent out Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy – Colorectal (FACT-C) questionnaires to patients who met the criteria. The T-test, Kendall’s Tau-b, and Pearson correlation were used to select potentially significant predictors (p-value <0.1), which were then included in the multiple regression analysis to predict FACT-G (General QoL) and FACT-C (General QoL + concerns related to colorectal cancer) scores. Results: We analyzed data from 144 patients (out of 480 patients who met the criteria). The average FACT-G and FACT-C scores were 87.34 and 106.79, respectively. The factor that had a significant negative impact on FACT-G was age (t = -2.67, p = 0.008). The factors that had a significant negative impact on FACT-C were nodal status (t = -1.98, p = 0.05) and age (t = -2.66, p = 0.009). Conclusion: The postoperative QoL of Thai rectal cancer patients is similar to the QoL measures reported in a prior study. The QoL measures were found to be negatively impacted by age and lymph node status. Gender, the type of operation, presence of ostomy, location of the tumor, preoperative radiation, adjuvant chemotherapy, laparoscopic approach, duration after surgery, proximal and distal margins, tumor size, metastasis, and recurrence showed no impact on the QoL.