Quality of life in women with cervical precursor lesions and cancer: a prospective, 6-month, hospital-based study in China

The overall survival of patients with cervical cancer has improved due to detection at an early stage and availability of comprehensive treatments in China. As patients' lives prolonged, it is important to understand their health-related quality of life (QoL) during and after treatment. We used the EQ-5D questionnaire to assess QoL of 194 patients with cervical lesions at Sichuan University West China Second Hospital between May 2010 and January 2011. Patients were surveyed before primary treatment and at 1, 3, and 6 months after primary treatment. Results showed a consistent decline in EQ-5D scores in the spectrum of cervical lesions at each time point after treatment (all P < 0.05). For patients with precursor lesions, there was an increasing trend along the timeline of treatment (P < 0.01). For patients with early-stage cervical cancer, EQ-5D scores declined in the first month (P = 0.01) and gradually increased to higher levels at 6 months post-treatment than those before treatment (P < 0.01). EQ-5D scores followed a similar trend in patients with advanced cervical cancer (P = 0.04), though they did not statistically rebound after 6 months (0.84 ± 0.19 vs. 0.86 ± 0.11, P = 0.62). Regarding advanced cervical cancer, EQ-5D scores for women above 40 years of age appeared to recover more rapidly and reached higher levels than those for women below 40 years (P = 0.03). Caution and extra care are recommended in the early period of cervical cancer treatment given the slight deterioration in the QoL, and in particular, for younger cervical cancer patients. Our study implies that health care providers may need to improve the health-related QoL of cervical cancer patients.