The Relationship between Unmet Need, Physical Symptoms, Psychological Well-Being and Health-Related Quality of Life in Cholangiocarcinoma Survivors

BACKGROUND: Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) survivors continue to face challenges that affect their health-related quality of life (HRQOL) along the survivorship trajectory. OBJECTIVE: This study intends to investigate the association and to create a model for explaining the link between unmet needs, physical symptoms, psychological well-being, and HRQOL in CCA survivors. Method: This cross-sectional study consecutively recruited 231CCA survivors from an oncology unit of a university hospital in Khon Kaen, Thailand. Cancer-related unmet need, physical symptoms, psychological well-being and HRQOL were all assessed using the questionnaire, and medical records were used to acquire demographic and clinical data. We use a path analysis to create a hypothesized model in which symptoms, unmet need, anxiety, and depression, support care need predicting HRQOL. RESULTS: The mean total of HRQOL score was 75.59±6.24 (95%CI: 74.78-76.39) indicated that the subjects had a low level of HRQOL as a whole. The hypothesis model was found to fit the actual data and explained 39.8% of the variance of HRQOL. Symptoms and anxiety had a significant negative effect on HRQOL (β = -0.62, p< 0.001) and (β=-0.18, p<0.001), respectively. However, the relationship between HRQOL and other mediators was not found significant association. CONCLUSION: According to our findings, the research model can be used to investigate how symptoms affect HRQOL. It also means that cancer care providers should be aware of these factors while caring for CCA survivors in order to enhance their HRQOL.