Centre for Health Research & Psycho-oncology (CHeRP), Hunter Medical Research Institute & Priority Research Centre for Health Behaviour, University of Newcastle, Newcastle, NSW, 2308, Australia.
Support Care Cancer. 2012 Jun;20(6):1333-41. doi: 10.1007/s00520-011-1221-x. Epub 2011 Jul 1.
This study compared the unmet needs, quality of life, and health behaviors (smoking, alcohol, and physical activity) of young adult cancer survivors to their older counterparts and age-related peers.
We conducted a subset analysis of the Cancer Survival Study baseline data collected from participants surveyed at approximately 6-7 months post-diagnosis. All 58 young adults aged 18-40 years at the time of first primary cancer diagnosis and participating in the study were included. Their responses to the self-administered SCNS-SF34, EORTC QLQ-C30, and standard items assessing smoking, alcohol consumption, and physical activity were compared to a random sample (n = 58) of gender and cancer-type matched older adults (64+ years) participating in the same study. Young adult survivors' health behaviors were also compared to previously published data for age-related peers from the Australian general population.
Young adult cancer survivors reported significantly lower levels of social functioning; higher levels of financial difficulties, sexuality needs, health systems and information needs; and better physical functioning than their older counterparts. A significantly higher percentage of young cancer survivors were current smokers compared to older survivors (16.1% vs. 3.7%, p = 0.03), but is lower than that reported by age-related peers (24.8%). Compared to young cancer survivors (27.3%), significantly fewer older cancer survivors (8.3%, p = 0.046) and more age-related peers (53.6%) engaged in sufficient levels of physical activity.
The impact of cancer on young adults seems to be specific. Future research should verify the unique concerns of young adult cancer survivors in large and diverse samples.
本研究比较了年轻成年癌症幸存者与老年幸存者和年龄相关的同龄人之间未满足的需求、生活质量和健康行为（吸烟、饮酒和身体活动）。
我们对癌症生存研究基线数据的子组分析进行了研究，这些数据是从大约诊断后 6-7 个月接受调查的参与者中收集的。所有 58 名年龄在 18-40 岁之间的年轻成年人，在首次原发性癌症诊断时都参与了该研究。他们对自我管理的 SCNS-SF34、EORTC QLQ-C30 以及评估吸烟、饮酒和身体活动的标准项目的回答，与参与同一研究的年龄和癌症类型匹配的老年成年人（64 岁以上）的随机样本（n=58）进行了比较。年轻成年幸存者的健康行为也与澳大利亚一般人群中年龄相关的同龄人的先前发表数据进行了比较。
年轻成年癌症幸存者报告的社会功能水平显著较低；财务困难、性需求、健康系统和信息需求水平较高；身体功能更好。与老年幸存者相比，年轻癌症幸存者中目前吸烟的比例明显更高（16.1%比 3.7%，p=0.03），但低于年龄相关的同龄人（24.8%）。与年轻癌症幸存者（27.3%）相比，明显更少的老年癌症幸存者（8.3%，p=0.046）和更多的年龄相关的同龄人（53.6%）进行了足够水平的身体活动。
癌症对年轻成年人的影响似乎是特定的。未来的研究应该在大型和多样化的样本中验证年轻成年癌症幸存者的独特关注点。
