Assessment of Quality of Life in Patients with Colorectal Cancer in Kazakhstan

BACKGROUND: The problem of quality of life (QOL) of patients with colorectal cancer (CRC) is particularly relevant due to the dynamics of CRC incidence growth. This study aims to assess QOL of patients with CRC in the Republic of Kazakhstan in order to give an idea about the impact of burden on QOL of patients. METHODS: A total of 319 patients diagnosed with CRC participated in this one-stage cross-sectional study. The survey was conducted between November 2021 and June 2022 at cancer centers in Kazakhstan. Data were collected using the valid and reliable European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire (EORTC QLQ-C30, version 3.0). RESULTS: The average age of respondents was 59, 23 (SD=10,604) years. The main age group 50-69 years old accounted for 62.1% of the total sample. Among all ill respondents, 153 (48%) were male and 166 (52%) were female. The mean global health status was 59.24 ± 22.62. Two of the five functional scales were below the ≥66.7% threshold, namely, emotional functioning 61.65 (28.04) and social functioning 61.96 (31.84); while scores for the other three were: physical functioning 69.38 (22.06), role functioning 69.69 (26.45), and cognitive functioning 74.60 (25.07). CONCLUSIONS: This study gives an indication of good life functioning among our participants on the functional and symptom scales. However, they reported inadequate global health status.