Health-Related Quality of Life of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Patients Treated with Targeted Therapy: Based on the EQ-5D-5L Scale in Vietnam.

OBJECTIVE

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients can prolong their life owing to targeted therapy. Assessing patients' quality of life (QOL) can help improve QOL and prolong their lives.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study was conducted at the Department of Medical Oncology 1 and Medical Oncology 2, Vietnam National Cancer Hospital in Tan Trieu, Hanoi, Vietnam, from October 2022 to December 2023 on the basis of the EQ-5D-5L scale to identify the QOL of 310 patients with NSCLC who were treated with first-line targeted therapy. Nonparametric tests and Tobit regression models were used to compare the differences and identify factors related to NSCLC patients' health-state utility.

RESULTS

Pain/discomfort (80.6%) and anxiety/depression (75.2%) were the most common dimensions, especially among NSCLC patients experiencing side effects, with only 10.0% of patients reporting no problems. The EQ-5D-5L utility and EQ-VAS scores were 0.8255 and 64.39, respectively. The presence of side effects has been shown to decrease the quality of life for patients (Coef. = -0.04203, p < 0,001). Conversely, support from health insurance has been associated with improved quality of life, with 95% support of health insurance (Coef. = 0.0594, p = 0.001) and 100% support of health insurance (Coef. = 0.0318, p = 0.013) having positive effects.

CONCLUSION

Health insurance support and side effects related to patients' health-state utility scores. Increasing health insurance support and improving side effects would help increase patients' QOL.