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. 2024 Apr 23;31(5):2376-2392.
doi: 10.3390/curroncol31050177.

12-Month Trajectories of Health-Related Quality of Life Following Hospitalization in German Cancer Centers-A Secondary Data Analysis

Martin Eichler  1 , Klaus Hönig  2 , Corinna Bergelt  3 , Hermann Faller  4 , Imad Maatouk  5   6 , Beate Hornemann  1 , Barbara Stein  7 , Martin Teufel  8 , Ute Goerling  9 , Yesim Erim  10 , Franziska Geiser  11 , Alexander Niecke  12 , Bianca Senf  13   14 , Joachim Weis  15
Affiliations

12-Month Trajectories of Health-Related Quality of Life Following Hospitalization in German Cancer Centers-A Secondary Data Analysis

Martin Eichler et al. Curr Oncol. .

Abstract

Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) offer a diverse array of potential applications within medical research and clinical practice. In comparative research, they can serve as tools for delineating the trajectories of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) across various cancer types. We undertook a secondary data analysis of a cohort of 1498 hospitalized cancer patients from 13 German cancer centers. We assessed the Physical and Mental Component Scores (PCS and MCS) of the 12-Item Short-Form Health Survey at baseline (t0), 6 (t1), and 12 months (t2), using multivariable generalized linear regression models. At baseline, the mean PCS and MCS values for all cancer patients were 37.1 and 44.3 points, respectively. We observed a significant improvement in PCS at t2 and in MCS at t1. The most substantial and significant improvements were noted among patients with gynecological cancers. We found a number of significant differences between cancer types at baseline, t1, and t2, with skin cancer patients performing best across all time points and lung cancer patients performing the worst. MCS trajectories showed less pronounced changes and differences between cancer types. Comparative analyses of HRQoL scores across different cancer types may serve as a valuable tool for enhancing health literacy, both among the general public and among cancer patients themselves.

Keywords: SF12; health literacy; health-related quality of life; prospective longitudinal study.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Top row: age and gender standardized health-related quality of life among patients of German Comprehensive Cancer Centers at the time of hospitalization—a comparison with normative data from the general German population (Wirtz, 2019). Bottom row: unstandardized comparison of health-related quality of life among selected cancer types. CCC = Comprehensive Cancer Center; PCS = SF12 Physical Health Summary Scale; MCS = SF12 Mental Health Summary Scale.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Trajectories of HRQoL scores (PCS) following hospitalization at baseline: adjusted values for age at diagnosis, sex, time of survey, time since diagnosis, metastatic disease, T-stage, N-stage, disease status, reason for hospitalization, physical comorbidities, emotional comorbidities, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, surgery, education, partnership, and occupation. Interactions considered: time of survey by cancer type and time since diagnosis by cancer type. PCS = SF12 Physical Health Summary Scale.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Trajectories of HRQoL scores (MCS) following hospitalization at baseline: adjusted values for age at diagnosis, sex, time of survey, time since diagnosis, metastatic disease, T-stage, N-stage, disease status, reason for hospitalization, physical comorbidities, emotional comorbidities, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, surgery, education, partnership, and occupation. Interactions considered: time of survey by cancer type and time since diagnosis by cancer type. MCS = SF12 Mental Health Summary Scale.
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