Relationship between quality of life before treatment and survival in patients with hematological malignancies: A meta-analysis.

This meta-analysis aimed to investigate the impact of pretreatment quality of life (QoL) on overall survival (OS) in patients with hematological malignancies. The observational studies with relationship between QoL and OS in patients undergoing either hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) or chemotherapy were collected. Stratification by treatment was performed to examine the association between QoL and OS. Six articles were included in the analysis. Overall, significant associations with OS were observed for global QoL (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.04, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.01-1.08), physical QoL (HR = 1.06, 95% CI:1.02-1.10), and social QoL (HR = 1.02, 95% CI: 1.00-1.03). When stratified by treatment, HSCT showed significant associations between OS and both global QoL (HR = 1.05, 95% CI:1.00-1.11) and physical QoL (HR = 1.03, 95% CI:1.00-1.06). For chemotherapy, significant associations were also observed between OS and global QoL (HR = 1.04, 95% CI:1.00-1.09), physical QoL (HR = 1.08, 95% CI:1.00-1.17), role QoL (HR = 1.02, 95% CI:1.00-1.04), and social QoL (HR = 1.02, 95% CI:1.00-1.04). No significant associations were observed regarding emotional QoL, which was only analyzed in HSCT. The factors influencing OS may vary depending on the treatment, emphasizing the importance of recognizing QoL from the pretreatment stage.