Male, female survivors of rectal cancer experience differences in health-related quality of life

Sex was important to determining the long-term health-related quality of life in survivors of rectal cancer, according to findings from a recent study.

Questionnaires were completed by 246 participants who survived rectal cancer and had permanent ostomies and by a control group of 245 participants who had similar rectal cancer treatment procedures and anastomosis.

Independent predictors of total health-related quality of life included age (P<.001), comborbidity score (P=.008), household income (P=.001) and work status (P=.04).

Women survivors of rectal cancer with an ostomy scored the same or lower than men with an ostomy on the health-related quality of life subscales, suggesting that having an ostomy was linked with poorer health-related quality of life in women. There was a significant relationship between ostomy status and sex for the psychological domain; trends were also observed for total score and spiritual domain.

Differences between those participants who had ostomies and those who did not were observed in the social domain for men, while for women, differences were observed in overall health-related quality of life, psychological domain and social domain.

There was a significant association between having an ostomy and physical well-being for women aged younger than 75 years (P<.001). The adjusted mean score was 0.83 lower among women with ostomies vs. women in the control group (P<.05).

Patterns on the Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey version 2 were different between the sexes for physical function, general health and role-emotional scales, according to researchers. The researchers reported “statistically significant and meaningful” differences between women with ostomies and women in the control group for seven of eight scales and on the physical and mental component scores.

“Clinicians [should] recognize that sex plays a role in the long-term health-related quality of life for these cancer survivors, and sex must be considered when developing strategies to improve health-related quality of life for men and women,” researchers wrote.

Krouse RS. J Clin Oncol. 2009;doi:10.1200/JCO.2008.20.9502.