2024 Volume 38 Article ID: 38_51_takeda
Background: Patients with pancreatic cancer show moderate to severe weight loss in 66-84% of cases. This suggests that, pancreatic cancer patients experience eating-related distress, which is presumed to affect their quality of life (QOL). Therefore, the purpose of this study was to characterize the health-related QOL in patients undergoing pancreatic cancer chemotherapy and to examine its relationship with nutritional indices and eating-related distress.
Methods: A self-administered questionnaire and medical record survey were conducted with 33 pancreatic cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy after obtaining their informed consent. The survey items included basic information, medical-related information, Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Hepatobiliary (FACT-Hep), a disease-specific QOL Assessment Scale for Patients with Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Cancer, and nutritional indices. Analysis was based on the mean value of FACT-Hep, which was classified into high and low groups, and statistical group comparisons were made with respect to the association with other variables.
Results: The mean FACT-Hep was 117.1±23.7, and 72.7-78.9% of subjects had more than mild nutritional disorders. Comparison of the low and high FACT-Hep groups showed no significant differences in nutritional indices. The low FACT-Hep group showed significantly higher rates of feeling “Although I know that I have to eat enough, I cannot do it.” (p=0.033) and “I am burdened by the meals that my family serves me” (p=0.009) in the eating-related distress items.
Conclusions: Our results suggest that symptom management based on FACT-Hep assessment and efforts to alleviate eating-related distress are necessary to improve the quality of life of pancreatic cancer patients.
