Frailty, Illness Perception and Lung Functional Exercise Adherence in Lung Cancer Patients After Thoracoscopic Surgery

BACKGROUND: Lung cancer patients will have lung damage after surgery, need rehabilitation exercise. Common-sense model has shown the impact of patients’ perception of illness on health behaviors. However, for patients with lung cancer after thoracoscopic surgery, there has been no relevant exploration of disease perception. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the clinical status of patients with lung cancer patients who have undergone thoracoscopic surgery, and to explore the correlation between frailty, disease perception, and lung functional exercise compliance. METHODS: The cross-sectional study included 218 patients with lung cancer after thoracoscopic surgery. We collected participants’ frailty, disease perception, exercise adherence, and relevant clinical information. T-test, Chi-square, Linear regression, Pearson’s correlation, and mediation analysis were used for statistical analysis of patient data. RESULTS: We analyzed the data by disease perception with high and low median scores and found significant differences in lymphatic dissection, stool within three days, pain, thoracic drainage tube placement time. Linear regression results show that, after controlling for confounding factors, frailty and disease perception were significantly associated with pulmonary function exercise compliance. The higher the frailty score, the worse the compliance, and the higher the disease perception negative score, the less exercise. Illness perception played a partially mediating role in the association between frailty and lung functional exercise adherence. CONCLUSION: Frailty and disease perception have an impact on exercise adherence, therefore, we need to consider these factors in the intervention to improve exercise compliance after thoracoscopic surgery for lung cancer.