Marzo Roy Rillera, Bhattacharya Sudip, Aye Soe Soe, Tripathi Shailesh, Naing Thein Win, Soe Maung Maung, Kyaw Ye Wint, Packiam Cyril Deeben A L Richard, Ping Donnington Chai Ping, Zolpakar Puteri Maisarah Binti, Selvakumar Vethashini A P, Ali Saidatur Raihan Binti Abdul, Hasrudin Auni Fajriyah Binti, Sutikno Joshua
Department of Community Medicine, International Medical School, Management and Science University, Shah Alam, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia.
Global Public Health, Jeffrey Cheah School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Monash University Malaysia, Bandar Sunway, Malaysia.
J Public Health Res. 2022 May 16;10(2 Suppl). doi: 10.4081/jphr.2021.2919. eCollection 2022 Apr.
Cancer is a major public health problem across the globe. According to the Malaysian National Cancer Registry Report (MNCR), between 2007 and 2011, there has been a greater increase in the number of reported cancer cases among females (99.3 per 100,000 people) than males (86.9 cases per 100,000 people). Nearly 15 million new cancer cases were projected by 2020. We conducted this study to assess the quality of life (QoL) among cancer patients.
This was a cross-sectional study conducted in the oncology department of Malaysian hospitals from October to November 2019. The study population comprised Malaysians in the age range of18 to 100 years diagnosed with cancer, irrespective of their treatment status, cancer type and prognosis. A pre-tested structured questionnaire was used in seventy cancer patients' using a convenient sampling method. Data were collected using a questionnaire survey after obtaining permission from the hospital administrators. Data were entered in MS Excel and analysis was done using the SPSS-version 23. Participants' socio-demographic characteristics were described using descriptive statistics. Results are presented using graphs, tables, mean, percentages, standard deviation, frequency, and significance. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) test was performed to find out the association between socio-demographic variables and overall QoL scores of the patients.
Of the seventycancer patients, 29 (41.43%) were males and 41 (58.57%) were females. The most affected socio-demographic factors were marital status and occupation (employment). It was found that there were 55 (78.57%) married patients and 49 (70%) employed patients. QoL of most of the patients was influenced by the education level and treatment. It was found that 35 (50%) of them had low QoL scores. It was observed that QoL among the study participants was significantly (p<0.05) associated with their level of education and the level of treatment.
There is a need to develop measures for community education, involvement of family physicians for the treatment of cancer and to increase awareness to improve the QoL among cancer patients. The focus should be on the development of strategies empowering patients to seek treatment and gain control over their illness with the collaboration with primary care physicians.
癌症是全球主要的公共卫生问题。根据马来西亚国家癌症登记报告（MNCR），2007年至2011年期间，女性报告的癌症病例数增长幅度（每10万人中有99.3例）高于男性（每10万人中有86.9例）。预计到2020年将有近1500万新癌症病例。我们开展这项研究以评估癌症患者的生活质量（QoL）。
这是一项于2019年10月至11月在马来西亚医院肿瘤科进行的横断面研究。研究人群包括年龄在18至100岁、被诊断患有癌症的马来西亚人，无论其治疗状况、癌症类型和预后如何。采用便利抽样方法，对70名癌症患者使用经过预测试的结构化问卷。在获得医院管理人员许可后，通过问卷调查收集数据。数据录入MS Excel，并使用SPSS 23版进行分析。使用描述性统计描述参与者的社会人口学特征。结果以图表、表格、均值、百分比、标准差、频率和显著性表示。进行方差分析（ANOVA）测试以找出社会人口学变量与患者总体生活质量得分之间的关联。
70名癌症患者中，29名（41.43%）为男性，41名（58.57%）为女性。受影响最大的社会人口学因素是婚姻状况和职业（就业情况）。发现有55名（78.57%）已婚患者和49名（70%）就业患者。大多数患者的生活质量受教育程度和治疗的影响。发现其中35名（50%）患者生活质量得分较低。观察到研究参与者的生活质量与其教育水平和治疗水平显著相关（p<0.05）。
需要制定社区教育措施，让家庭医生参与癌症治疗，并提高认识以改善癌症患者的生活质量。重点应是制定策略，使患者有能力寻求治疗并在与初级保健医生合作的情况下掌控自己的疾病。
