Health-related quality of life among disease-free stomach cancer survivors in Korea

Previous studies about the quality of life (QOL) in stomach cancer survivors focused on selected clinical parameters and did not consider the broader implications for overall health and QOL. We evaluated the impact of demographic and treatment-related factors on the QOL of stomach cancer survivors. We asked 391 stage I-III stomach cancer survivors who had been disease-free for at least 1 year after surgery to complete a demographic questionnaire, the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer QLQ-C30 questionnaire, and its stomach module, QLQ-STO22. Survivors undergoing total gastrectomy reported greater eating restrictions than those undergoing subtotal gastrectomy. Receiving chemotherapy or radiotherapy did not significantly affect any QLQ-C30 or QLQ-STO22 scores. Role and emotional functioning improved with increasing age, and stomach-specific symptoms ( pain, eating restrictions, and anxiety) lessened. Compared with female survivors, male survivors had better physical and role functioning. Smoking status was also a significant negative predictor of physical functioning and anxiety. Comorbidities and selected demographic characteristics had a greater effect than type of treatment on the QOL of postoperative stomach cancer patients.