Health-related quality of life among cervical cancer patients at Kenyatta National Hospital

Abstract

Background

Previous study showed that health-related quality of life (HRQoL) was adversely affected during treatment of cervical cancer, with a worsening global score. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the HRQoL of cervical cancer patients at Kenyatta National Hospital.

Methods

A cross-sectional study design was employed among cervical cancer patients. All eligible consecutive samples of 103 cervical cancer patients were included in the study. Following consent, patients were interviewed using The European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality-of-Life Questionnaire 30 (EORTC QLQ-30) and Cervical Cancer Module CX24 (EORTC QLQ-CX24). The data were entered and analyzed using the SPSS version 20.0 software. Univariate and multivariate binary logistic regression analysis was employed to investigate the predictors of HRQoL. A p-value of ≤ 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results

The majority (69%) of the patients had a poor overall quality of life while 31% of study participants had a good quality of life. Patients with early-stage disease were 7.3 times (AOR = 7.3, 95% CI = 2.4–21.7, p = 0.000) more likely to have a good HRQoL than patients with advanced-stage disease. Patients with no comorbidities were 3.1 times (COR = 3.1, 95% CI = 1.1–9.1, p = 0.037) more likely to have a good HRQoL than patients with comorbidities.

Conclusion

The overall HRQoL among cervical cancer patients was poor in the setting. Advanced stage of disease and presence of comorbidities were the significant predictors of poor quality of life.