Quality of Life (QoL) of cancer patients and its association with nutritional and performance status: A pilot study

BACKGROUND: Quality of Life (QoL), for long, has been a multifactorial concerning issue in oncology. The aim of this study was to determine QoL of cancer patients and its association with nutrition, and performance status. METHODOLOGY: This was a hospital based cross-sectional study carried out at 2 cancer centers and one tertiary level hospital in Dhaka city during the months of July to December, 2019. Data was collected through structured interviews and analyzed by SPSS-25 statistical package software. RESULTS: Among 279 participants, 14(5.02%) had high QoL, 35(12.54%) had average QoL, 150(53.76%) had low QoL, and remaining 80(28.67%) had very low QoL. The prevalence of severe malnutrition was 12.5% and 43.7% of patients had poor performance status. A statistically significant association between QoL and, nutritional and performance status was identified (p < 0.05). The ANOVA also indicated a statistically significant variation in QoL score among nutritional categories (P < 0.01) and performance status (P = 0.013). CONCLUSION: A relatively higher prevalence of poor QoL was identified in this study which varies among nutritional categories and performance statuses. The proper management of predictors of QoL is imperative during treatment procedures.