Life-quality assessment of the effect of concurrent chemotherapy on advanced non-small cell lung cancer patients

Background and purpose:Patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer(NSCLC) pay more attention to improving the quality of life.Concurrent chemoradiotherapy is the primary form of treatment for advanced NSCLC.In this study,quality of life and clinical significance of concurrent chemoradio therapy for advanced NSCLC patients' were discussed.Methods:Seventy patients with pathologically confirmed advanced NSCLC patients were treated with chest radiotherapy combined with chemotherapy.We adopted the EORTC QLQ-C30 questionnaire to assess the conditions before treatment and 1 day,1 month after treatment;and to analyze the factors that affected the quality of life on the EORTC QLQ-C30 scores in all areas of impact during different stages of treatment.Meanwhile, 1 year survival rate was calculated.Results:The patient's physical function,role function,emotional function,social function,and general health status declined on the first day after concurrent chemotherapy.After the treatment for 1 month,some functional areas were improved significantly,but increased treatment only improved physical function in comparison with previous physical ability(F=3.70-17.53,P0.05).One day after treatment,symptoms such as fatigue,nausea,vomiting,anorexia and constipation worsened whereas pain eased.One month after the treatment,the symptoms mentioned above improved,the symptoms of pain and dyspnea eased compared with before treatment.The improvement was statistical meaningful(F=9.64-63.64,P0.05).Patients were un-elderly,male,education level,Han race and received effective treatment,their quality of life was relatively good.The 1 year survival rate was 54.6%. Conclusion:Concurrent chemoradiotherapy could improve the patients' quality of life and increase the survival rate. Age,education and treatment are main factors affecting the quality of life.