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Undiagnosed cancer symptoms in the community: does poor quality of life influence the decision to seek help?

PURPOSE: Although a cancer diagnosis is linked with decrements to quality of life (QoL), it is unknown exactly when QoL starts to deteriorate, and whether this occurs during the pre-diagnostic pathway. This study aimed to examine QoL during this phase, and in addition investigate whether QoL levels...

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Autores principales: Gartland, Nicola, Long, Hannah, Skevington, Suzanne M.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Springer International Publishing 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6470111/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30671707
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11136-018-2088-9
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author Gartland, Nicola
Long, Hannah
Skevington, Suzanne M.
author_facet Gartland, Nicola
Long, Hannah
Skevington, Suzanne M.
author_sort Gartland, Nicola
collection PubMed
description PURPOSE: Although a cancer diagnosis is linked with decrements to quality of life (QoL), it is unknown exactly when QoL starts to deteriorate, and whether this occurs during the pre-diagnostic pathway. This study aimed to examine QoL during this phase, and in addition investigate whether QoL levels influence decisions about seeking professional help. This is important, because early diagnosis is linked to lower cancer mortality rates. METHODS: Working alongside a Cancer Research UK Roadshow in socially deprived communities, the recent QoL of adult visitors was assessed, before attending primary care. Using a cross-sectional design, we compared QoL in those presenting a potential cancer symptom/sign, with others seeking lifestyle advice to reduce cancer risk. Self-reported QoL (WHOQOL-BREF), and intention to seek help, were measured. RESULTS: Of 107 recruited, 50% were men. The potential cancer symptom group reported significantly poorer general QoL and psychological QoL, than lifestyle controls. Prior poorer physical QoL predicted stronger intentions to consult a general practitioner (GP) in the next 2 weeks, when controlling for symptom presence. CONCLUSIONS: QoL is poorer for those with potential cancer symptoms, before they first seek advice from primary care. Poorer physical QoL is associated with stronger intentions to make a GP appointment. An implication for longer term health is that if public awareness about the impact of symptoms on QoL was raised, this could provide an impetus to seek help.
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spelling pubmed-64701112019-05-03 Undiagnosed cancer symptoms in the community: does poor quality of life influence the decision to seek help? Gartland, Nicola Long, Hannah Skevington, Suzanne M. Qual Life Res Article PURPOSE: Although a cancer diagnosis is linked with decrements to quality of life (QoL), it is unknown exactly when QoL starts to deteriorate, and whether this occurs during the pre-diagnostic pathway. This study aimed to examine QoL during this phase, and in addition investigate whether QoL levels influence decisions about seeking professional help. This is important, because early diagnosis is linked to lower cancer mortality rates. METHODS: Working alongside a Cancer Research UK Roadshow in socially deprived communities, the recent QoL of adult visitors was assessed, before attending primary care. Using a cross-sectional design, we compared QoL in those presenting a potential cancer symptom/sign, with others seeking lifestyle advice to reduce cancer risk. Self-reported QoL (WHOQOL-BREF), and intention to seek help, were measured. RESULTS: Of 107 recruited, 50% were men. The potential cancer symptom group reported significantly poorer general QoL and psychological QoL, than lifestyle controls. Prior poorer physical QoL predicted stronger intentions to consult a general practitioner (GP) in the next 2 weeks, when controlling for symptom presence. CONCLUSIONS: QoL is poorer for those with potential cancer symptoms, before they first seek advice from primary care. Poorer physical QoL is associated with stronger intentions to make a GP appointment. An implication for longer term health is that if public awareness about the impact of symptoms on QoL was raised, this could provide an impetus to seek help. Springer International Publishing 2019-01-22 2019 /pmc/articles/PMC6470111/ /pubmed/30671707 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11136-018-2088-9 Text en © The Author(s) 2019 Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.
spellingShingle Article
Gartland, Nicola
Long, Hannah
Skevington, Suzanne M.
Undiagnosed cancer symptoms in the community: does poor quality of life influence the decision to seek help?
title Undiagnosed cancer symptoms in the community: does poor quality of life influence the decision to seek help?
title_full Undiagnosed cancer symptoms in the community: does poor quality of life influence the decision to seek help?
title_fullStr Undiagnosed cancer symptoms in the community: does poor quality of life influence the decision to seek help?
title_full_unstemmed Undiagnosed cancer symptoms in the community: does poor quality of life influence the decision to seek help?
title_short Undiagnosed cancer symptoms in the community: does poor quality of life influence the decision to seek help?
title_sort undiagnosed cancer symptoms in the community: does poor quality of life influence the decision to seek help?
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6470111/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30671707
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11136-018-2088-9
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