Cancer Patients’ Morbidity (II): Anemia-related Quality of Life in Relation to Personality

抄録

Background Recent improvement in treatment of patients with cancer caused longer survival but also an increase in the number of patients at risk of developing anemia and impaired quality of life (QOL). Previous studies found that personality confers an increased risk of cancer morbidity related to immunological status, unless patients receive paychological care or intervention.
Method This study examined anemia-related morbidity by comparing patients’ subjective reports of QOL using the QOL-20 subscales (correlated with hemoglobin levels before and after surgery or chemotherapy) among 16 personality types on the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, the EPQ-25.
Results Differences were accounted for by the trait of neuroticism (N+) in conjunction with introversion (E−), vulnerability or softmindedness (P−) and lack of repression or social-naivety (L−), providing evidence for three personality types, intolerant (E−N+P−), melancholic (E−N+) and high-anxious (N+L−), as potential risk factors of developing anemia-related morbidity or QOL deficits. These personality types were predictive of anemia-related cancer morbidity, independent of tumor site, TNM stage, age and sex. Sensitivity for the prediction was 90.6% (intolerant type), 87.2% (melancholic type) or 62.2% (high-anxious type).
Coclusion The evidence of these personality types provides insight into the strategy for the patient selection and stratification for prophylactic treatment, of debility or anemia and related morbidity, by preoperative patient care and support or intervention as well as recombinant human erythropoietin, improving the QOL and anemia-related morbidity.