A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW WITH THE EPIDEMIOLOGICAL APPROACH TO THE QUALITY OF LIFE OF CANCER PATIENTS

Introduction: Cancer is a disease that can have a negative impact on the quality of life of people with the disease. Empirical studies have shown that quality of life can be considered as an indicator of the quality of health care and is part of the treatment plan and measuring it in chronic illnesses will provide more information about the health and disease to the planner. Therefore, considering the importance of quality of life in cancer patients, the present study was conducted with the aim of systematically reviewing the epidemiological approach to the quality of life of cancer patients. Materials and Methods: The present study is a systematic study using the articles published in the last 20 years regarding the epidemiological approach to the quality of life of cancer patients. Searching articles in search engines, Embase, Researchgate, Sciencedirect, Google Scholar, and PubMed in Persian and English were searched for. In the first stage, 43 articles were found. Among them, 20 articles related to the topic that were published in the last 20 years were reviewed. Results: In our studies, we have been focusing on improving the quality of life of cancer patients. In one of these studies, there was a significant difference in the mean of fatigue and quality of life according to the level of hemoglobin in the blood. There was a significant negative correlation between hemoglobin level and quality of life and severity of fatigue. Conclusion: Considering the studies that have been done, several cases have led to an increase in the quality of life of cancer patients, including the significant role of religious and spiritual beliefs in improving the quality of life of cancer patients. Group therapy also reduced the anxiety and depression and increased quality of life in patients with cancer. By performing group motivational interviews, there was a significant difference in the quality of life score in patients with colon cancer with permanent stoma.

Quality of Life, Cancer Patients, Epidemiologic Approach