Background
Methods
Design
Young adult patients (AYA)
Older adult patients
Measures
Illness-specific social support scale short version-8 (ISSS-8)
European organisation for the research and treatment of Cancer quality of life questionnaire-Core 30 (EORTC QLQ-C30)
Data analysis
Results
Sample
Young adult patients N = 179 N (%) | Older adult patients N = 200 N (%) | |
---|---|---|
Sociodemographic
| ||
Age* (mean, standard deviation) | 27.5 (5.79) | 76.1 (4.91) |
range in years | 19–42 | 70–96 |
Gender* | ||
male | 69 (38.5) | 128 (64.0) |
female | 120 (61.5) | 72 (36.0) |
Family status* | ||
single | 141 (78.8) | 7 (3.5) |
married | 35 (19.6) | 144 (72.0) |
divorced | 3 (1.7) | 12 (6.0) |
widowed | – | 37 (18.5) |
Partnership* yes | 78 (43.6) | 150 (75.0) |
Children* yes | 32 (17.9) | 184 (92.0) |
Education* | ||
none | 4 (2.2) | 1 (0.5) |
8 years | 14 (7.9) | 84 (42.0) |
10 years | 56 (31.5) | 43 (21.5) |
A-level | 22 (12.7) | 4 (2.0) |
University | 82 (46.1) | 68 (34.0) |
Clinical characteristics
| ||
Cancer diagnosis* | ||
Lymphoma | 137 (76.5) | 103 (51.5) |
Leukaemia | 38 (21.2) | 54 (27.0) 43 (21.5) |
Myeloma | 4 (2.2) | |
Medical therapies (Multiple answers possible) | ||
Chemotherapy* | 175 (97.8) | 154 (77.0) |
Radiotherapy | 79 (44.1) | 60 (30.0) |
Transplantation (stem cell and/or bone marrow) | 27 (15.1) | 33 (16.5) |
Social support (ISSS-8)
ISSS-8 | Young adult patients (N = 179) | Older adult patients (N = 200) | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Amongst the people you feel close to, is there someone who... | Mean | SD | Mean | SD |
Positive Support |
13.40
|
2.81
|
13.04
|
3.82
|
Is there for you when you need him/her | 3.8 | 0.6 | 3.8 | 0.6 |
Gives you comfort | 3.4 | 0.9 | 2.9 | 1.5 |
Talks about important decisions with you | 3.1 | 1.1 | 3.3 | 1.3 |
Spends part of his/her time working some things out for you | 3.2 | 1.1 | 3.1 | 1.4 |
Detrimental Interactions |
4.16
|
3.10
|
1.63
|
2.42
|
Worries too much about your illness | 1.4 | 1.1 | 0.8 | 1.2 |
Gives you information or makes suggestions that you find unhelpful or upsetting | 1.3 | 1.1 | 0.4 | 0.9 |
Makes you feel you cannot care for yourself | 0.8 | 1.2 | 0.3 | 0.8 |
Tries to change the way you’re coping with your illness in a way you don’t like | 0.6 | 0.9 | 0.1 | 0.4 |
HRQoL (EORTC QLQ-C30)
| Young adult patients (N = 179) | Older adult patients (N = 200) | Group differences | Effect size | mean differences – clinical relevance* | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mean | SD | Mean | SD |
p
| d | |||
Function scales
| ||||||||
Physical Function | 79.59 | (18.06) | 67.73 | (27.79) |
<.001
| .516 | 11.86 | small |
Role Function | 64.25 | (26.33) | 60.75 | (36.64) | .292 | .11 | 3.50 | trivial |
Emotional Function | 59.50 | (27.71) | 78.04 | (20.70) |
<.001
| .76 | −18.54 | – |
Cognitive Function | 69.46 | (25.08) | 80.25 | (22.48) |
<.001
| .45 | −10.79 | medium |
Social Function | 57.45 | (32.77) | 74.75 | (31.88) |
<.001
| .54 | −17.30 | large |
Symptom scales
| ||||||||
Fatigue | 46.99 | (25.06) | 43.72 | (31.21) | .265 | .12 | 3.27 | trivial |
Nausea/vomiting | 7.08 | (16.27) | 7.25 | (17.17) | .920 | .00 | −0.17 | trivial |
Pain | 22.63 | (27.46) | 34.00 | (33.91) |
<.001
| .34 | −11.37 | small |
Single items
| ||||||||
Dyspnoea | 24.58 | (29.63) | 25.67 | (33.70) | .741 | .03 | −1.09 | trivial |
Insomnia | 35.01 | (34.49) | 34.00 | (38.39) | .789 | .03 | 1.01 | trivial |
Appetite loss | 13.22 | (23.55) | 21.17 | (33.61) | .009 | .27 | −7.95 | small |
Constipation | 5.40 | (15.86) | 15.00 | (28.11) |
<.001
| .42 | −9.60 | small |
Diarrhoea | 14.15 | (25.20) | 9.33 | (22.46) | .050 | .20 | 4.82 | small |
Financial difficulties | 44.13 | (37.33) | 7.50 | (20.17) |
<.001
| 1.22 | 36.63 | medium |
Global quality of life
| 68.39 | (17.84) | 58.50 | (22.28) |
<.001
| .49 | 9.89 | small |
Health-related quality of life (EORTC QLQ-C30)
beta | std. error | p-value | |
---|---|---|---|
Positive Support (adj. R2 = 0.10) | |||
(Intercept) | 12.05 | 0.57 | < .001 |
Age group: AYA | 0.52 | 0.51 | .30 |
Gender: male | −0.16 | 0.35 | .64 |
Partnership: yes |
2.31
|
0.37
|
< .001
|
Children: yes | −0.69 | 0.52 | .19 |
Detrimental Interactions (adj. R2 = 0.18) | |||
(Intercept) | 1.47 | 0.49 | .003 |
Age group: AYA |
2.62
|
0.43
| <.001 |
Gender: male | 0.24 | 0.30 | .41 |
Partnership: yes | −0.08 | 0.32 | .79 |
Children: yes | 0.07 | 0.45 | .87 |
Association between social support and health-related quality of life
Positive support
Positive Support | Detrimental Interactions | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total group | AYA patients | Older patients | Total group | AYA patients | Older patients | |
HRQoL (EORTC QLQ-C30) Function scales
| ||||||
Physical Function | −.108* | .032 | −.192** | −.025 | −.010 | −.191** |
Role Function | −.102* | .053 | −.181* | −.161** | −.249*** | −.180* |
Emotional Function | .067 | .164* | .035 | −.2960*** | −.173* | −.173* |
Cognitive Function | .060 | .120 | .041 | −.149** | −.165* | .065 |
Social Function | −.083 | .102 | −.192** | −.370*** | −.315*** | −.282*** |
Detrimental interactions
beta | std. error | p-value | |
---|---|---|---|
Global Quality of Life (adj. R2 = 0.09) | |||
(Intercept) | 61.95 | 4.43 |
< .001
|
Age group: AYA Partnership: yes | 13.32–2.03 | 2.42 2.34 | < .001.39 |
Gender: male | 0.48 | 2.15 | .82 |
Positive Support | 0.02 | 0.32 | .94 |
Detrimental Interactions | −1.56 | 0.37 |
< .001
|
Physical Function (adj. R2 = 0.09) | |||
(Intercept) | 78.01 | 5.17 |
< .001
|
Age group: AYA Partnership: yes | 16.24–1.45 | 2.83 2.73 | < .001.60 |
Gender: male | 5.44 | 2.50 |
.03
|
Positive Support | −0.82 | 0.37 |
.03
|
Detrimental Interactions | −1.25 | 0.43 |
.004
|
Emotional Function (adj. R2 = 0.18) | |||
(Intercept) | 67.64 | 5.23 |
< .001
|
Age group: AYA Partnership: yes | −13.96-4.28 | 2.86 2.76 | < .001.12 |
Gender: male | 8.55 | 2.53 |
< .001
|
Positive Support | 0.82 | 0.38 | .03 |
Detrimental Interactions | −1.60 | 0.44 |
< .001
|
Cognitive Function (adj. R2 = 0.05) | |||
(Intercept) | 71.88 | 5.25 |
< .001
|
Age group: AYA Partnership: yes | −8.72-1.45 | 2.88 2.78 |
.003.60
|
Gender: male | 4.80 | 2.55 | .06 |
Positive Support | 0.56 | 0.38 | .14 |
Detrimental Interactions | −0.59 | 0.44 | .18 |
Social Function (adj. R2 = 0.15) | |||
(Intercept) | 88.42 | 6.83 |
< .001
|
Age group: AYA Partnership: yes | −9.74-7.39 | 3.74 3.61 |
.01.04
|
Gender: male | 3.48 | 3.31 | .29 |
Positive Support | −0.36 | 0.49 | .47 |
Detrimental Interactions | −3.51 | 0.57 |
< .001
|
Role Function (adj. R2 = 0.04) | |||
(Intercept) | 76.59 | 6.99 |
< .001
|
Age group: AYA Partnership: yes | 9.30–3.43 | 3.83 3.69 | .02.35 |
Gender: male | 2.41 | 3.39 | .48 |
Positive Support | −0.84 | 0.50 | .10 |
Detrimental Interactions | −2.36 | 0.59 |
< .001
|