Quality of life in partners of patients with cancer.

OBJECTIVES

Cancer affects patients' quality of life (QOL) but might also influence their partners' QOL. We investigated QOL in partners of patients with different cancer types and examined potential predictors of partners' QOL.

METHODS

Three hundred seventy-three partners completed the SF-36 QOL questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, t-tests and linear regressions were performed. Potential predictors of partners' QOL included sociodemographic (sex, age, income), psychosocial (social support, quality of partner relationship, patient's QOL) and clinical variables (tumour stage, treatment, time since diagnosis).

RESULTS

Male partners reported better QOL than female partners on most SF-36 subscales. Both male and female partners reported significantly lower mental QOL than the norm population. Higher quality of the relationship predicted higher mental QOL in partners of patients with cancers of digestive organs (P = 0.039) and breast cancer patients' partners (P = 0.001). Higher mental QOL of the patient predicted higher physical (P = 0.012) and mental QOL (P = 0.011) in partners of breast cancer patients. For partners of patients with cancers of the male genital organs, none of the variables in the model was of predictive value.

CONCLUSION

Mental, rather than physical, QOL of partners was impaired. Stage and other clinical variables of the patient did not influence partners' mental or physical QOL.