Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 May 21;13(11):2517.
doi: 10.3390/cancers13112517.

Case-Control Analysis of the Impact of Anemia on Quality of Life in Patients with Cancer: A Qca Study Analysis

Maria Barca-Hernando  1 , Andres J Muñoz-Martin  2 , Eduardo Rios-Herranz  3 , Ignacio Garcia-Escobar  4 , Carmen Beato  5 , Carme Font  6 , Estefania Oncala-Sibajas  7 , Alfonso Revuelta-Rodriguez  8 , Maria Carmen Areses  9 , Victor Rivas-Jimenez  10 , Aitor Ballaz-Quincoces  11 , Maria Angeles Moreno-Santos  12 , Juan-Bosco Lopez-Saez  13 , Iria Gallego-Gallego  2 , Teresa Elias-Hernandez  1 , Maria Isabel Asensio-Cruz  1 , Leyre Chasco-Eguilaz  11 , Gonzalo Garcia-Gonzalez  2 , Purificacion Estevez-Garcia  14 , Lucia Marin-Barrera  1 , Remedios Otero-Candelera  1 , Sergio Lopez-Ruz  1 , Jorge Lima-Alvarez  15 , Jose Maria Sanchez-Diaz  16 , Macarena Real-Dominguez  17 , Maria Carmen Borrego-Delgado  1 , Samira Marin-Romero  1 , Luis Jara-Palomares  1
Affiliations

Case-Control Analysis of the Impact of Anemia on Quality of Life in Patients with Cancer: A Qca Study Analysis

Maria Barca-Hernando et al. Cancers (Basel). .

Abstract

Anemia is a common condition in cancer patients and is associated with a wide variety of symptoms that impair quality of life (QoL). However, exactly how anemia affects QoL in cancer patients is unclear because of the inconsistencies in its definition in previous reports. We aimed to examine the clinical impact of anemia on the QoL of cancer patients using specific questionnaires. We performed a post-hoc analysis of a multicenter, prospective, case-control study. We included patients with cancer with (cases) or without (controls) anemia. Participants completed the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life questionnaire version 3.0 (EORTC QLQ-C30) and Euro QoL 5-dimension 3-level (EQ-5D-3L) questionnaire. Statistically significant and clinically relevant differences in the global health status were examined. From 2015 to 2018, 365 patients were included (90 cases and 275 controls). We found minimally important differences in global health status according to the EORTC QLQ-C30 questionnaire (case vs. controls: 45.6 vs. 58%, respectively; mean difference: -12.4, p < 0.001). Regarding symptoms, cancer patients with anemia had more pronounced symptoms in six out of nine scales in comparison with those without anemia. In conclusion, cancer patients with anemia had a worse QoL both clinically and statistically.

Keywords: anaemia; neoplasm; quality of life.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

L.J.-P. reports personal fees from Bayer Hispania, personal fees from Actelion, personal fees from Pfizer, personal fees and non-financial support from Rovi, grants, personal fees and non-financial support from LEO Pharma, personal fees and non-financial support from Daiichi Sankyo, personal fees from Menarini, grants, personal fees and non-financial support from MSD, and non-financial support from Roche, outside of the submitted work. A.J.M.-M. reports personal fees and non-financial support from Celgene, grants and personal fees from Sanofi, personal fees from Pfizer, personal fees from Bristol-Myers Squibb, grants and personal fees from LEO Pharma, personal fees from Daiichi Sankyo, personal fees from Halozyme, personal fees from Rovi, non-financial support from Merck Serono, and non-financial support from Roche, outside of the submitted work. Other intellectual property: Risk assessment model for venous thromboembolism in patients with cancer. The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Patient data distribution and probability densities within different questionnaires. Patients with anemia are indicated as “cases” and those without anemia as “controls”. Violin plots for QLQ-c30 Global Health Status (A) and EQ–5D–3L Index (B). The plots indicate the distribution of the observed values (dots). The kernel density plot (grey line) represents the probability density function. Larger sections of the violin plot indicate a higher probability of observation at a given value, whereas thinner sections correspond to a lower probability.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Stevens G.A., Finucane M.M., De-Regil L.M., Paciorek C.J., Flaxman S.R., Branca F., Peña-Rosas J.P., Bhutta Z.A., Ezzati M. Global, regional, and national trends in haemoglobin concentration and prevalence of total and severe anaemia in children and pregnant and non-pregnant women for 1995-2011: A systematic analysis of population-representative data. Lancet Glob. Health. 2013;1:16–25. doi: 10.1016/S2214-109X(13)70001-9. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Horton S., Ross J. The economics of iron deficiency. Food Policy. 2003;28:51–75. doi: 10.1016/S0306-9192(02)00070-2. - DOI
    1. Alcázar L. The economic impact of anaemia in Peru. Lima: Group for the Analysis of Development and Action Against Hunger. Animal Genetics. 2013;39:561–563.
    1. De Benoist B., Mclean E. Worldwide Prevalence of Anaemia 1993–2005 Who Global Database on Anaemia. World Health Organization; Geneva, Switzerland: 2008.
    1. Knight K., Wade S., Balducci L. Prevalence and outcomes of anemia in cancer: A systematic review of the literature. Am. J. Med. 2004;116:11–26. doi: 10.1016/j.amjmed.2003.12.008. - DOI - PubMed