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. 2025 Feb;19(1):35-44.
doi: 10.1007/s11764-023-01446-6. Epub 2023 Aug 23.

Health and disability status among middle-aged and older adult cancer survivors: a case-control study

Mohit Pandey  1 , Abhishek Anand  2
Affiliations

Health and disability status among middle-aged and older adult cancer survivors: a case-control study

Mohit Pandey et al. J Cancer Surviv. 2025 Feb.

Abstract

Purpose: The objective of this study is to evaluate whether the presence of a cancer history constitutes a risk for encountering unfavourable health outcomes and functional limitations. Moreover, the study also aims to identify specific attributes of cancer survivors that are associated with an increased risk of experiencing poor health and disability.

Methods: This study has utilized data from Longitudinal Ageing Study in India (LASI) conducted in 2017-18. The analytical sample size for this study was 65,562 older individuals of age 45 years and above. We have focused on individuals diagnosed with cancer, i.e., cancer survivors, and compared their health outcomes to those of a similar group (without a cancer history) with similar socioeconomic and demographic features. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression models were used to assess the adjusted effect of explanatory variables on cancer survivors.

Results: The result shows that the overall number of cancer survivors is 673 per 100.000 older adults and is higher in Urban areas (874 per 100.000) than in rural areas (535 per 100.000). 43.7% of the survivors reported poor self-rated health, and around 34.0% of cancer survivors reported depression, while this prevalence was much lower among older adults without a cancer history. Individuals who were diagnosed with cancer a long time ago have a significantly lower likelihood of experiencing poor SRH, depression, and diminished life satisfaction in comparison to those diagnosed more recently.

Conclusion: The study highlights the importance of factors such as time since diagnosis and the number of cancer sites in influencing health outcomes among survivors. Additionally, socioeconomic factors, such as wealth and access to health insurance, appear to play a role in the health status of cancer survivors.

Implications for cancer survivors: Healthcare policies should recognize the long-term impact of cancer and prioritize the provision of long-term survivorship care. This may involve establishing survivorship clinics or dedicated healthcare centres that provide specialized care for cancer survivors, addressing their unique needs throughout the survivorship continuum.

Keywords: Cancer survivors; Disability; Older adults.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests. Ethics approval and consent to participate: Ethical approvals for LASI survey were obtained from the following collaborating organizations: Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Delhi; IRB, International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), Mumbai; IRB, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (HSPH), Boston; IRB, University of Southern California (USC), Los Angeles; IRB, ICMR-National AIDS Research Institute (NARI), Pune; and IRB, Regional Geriatric Centres (RGCs), MoHFW. Consent for publication: Not applicable.

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