Quality of life in adult patients with hematological malignancy- treading a road less travelled

Haematological malignancies (HM) comprise of nearly 10% of all cancers. In oncology, the Health- related quality of life (HRQOL) measure assesses the physical, social and mental health aspects of patients undergoing treatment. There is lack of Indian data on HRQOL in patients with haematological malignancies. The main objective of our study was to assess the parameters of quality of life in adult patients undergoing therapy for haematological malignancies.

We conducted a cross-sectional study between 1st March 2023 and 31st July, 2023. Patients included for the study were newly diagnosed patients aged ≥ 18 years with haematological malignancy- (lymphoma, leukemia, and multiple myeloma) and undergoing therapy. Patients with relapsed/refractory disease, palliative care and those on follow up or observation were excluded. The primary objective of our study was to explore the parameters of quality of life in adult patients undergoing therapy for haematological malignancies. The secondary objective was to identify factors which are most influential in affecting the quality of life (QoL) in these subset of patients. European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) QoL questionnaire (QLQ C 30 version 3.0) was used for QoL analysis.

A total of 130 patients were eligible for evaluation. The median age of patients was 55 years (Range- 18–78 years). The proportion of males was 1.6:1. The total mean global health status score including health and QoL was 73.5 ± 24.4. On comparison with EORTC reference score for all cancer patients, the global health status functional scale in our study was higher. The highest symptom score was observed for fatigue (40.1 ± 26.1) and lowest for diarrhoea being 5.7 ± 14.7. A similar trend in the symptom scales was seen in the EORTC cohort When age groups were compared, means for global health and physical functioning score had statistically significant difference. Amongst symptom scales, fatigue scores were higher as the ages progressed.

Assessment of QoL in patients with haematological malignancies should be integrated into clinical practice, to understand treatment related morbidity and thereby helping in choosing optimal treatment strategy.