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Are gender-associated differences in quality of life in colorectal cancer patients disease-specific?

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to investigate gender-associated differences in quality of life in colorectal cancer patients and compare such differences to the general population.

Methods

Colorectal cancer patients attending three oncological centres in Austria were consecutively recruited and assessed with the EORTC QLQ-C30. For the purpose of comparison, a gender- and age-matched healthy control group was drawn from a representative sample of the Austrian general population.

Results

About 206 patients (47.1% women; mean age 64.8 years) with colorectal cancer were included and compared with 206 persons from the general population. A two-way analysis of variance showed significant main effects (gender and colorectal cancer vs. healthy) for most EORTC QLQ-C30 scales, but a significant interaction effect was only found for diarrhea. This means that gender-associated differences specific for colorectal cancer patients were only found for diarrhea.

Conclusion

The vast majority of studies on gender-associated differences in quality of life compare male and female oncological patients and neglect the issue of the disease-specificity of such differences. Our study revealed that women and men suffering from colorectal cancer scored differently across many aspects of quality of life, but with the exception of diarrhea, these differences were also found in the general population, i.e. they indicated no gender-specific reaction to disease.

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Abbreviations

5-FU:

5-Fluoruracil

ANOVA:

Analysis of variance

CHES:

Computer-based health evaluation system

CRC:

Colorectal cancer

EORTC:

European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer

GP:

General population

OR:

Odds ratio

QLQ-C30:

Quality of life questionnaire-core 30

QOL:

Quality of life

SD:

Standard deviation

SE:

Standard error

SPSS:

Statistical package for the social sciences

UICC:

Union internationale contre le cancer

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Sandra Ehrenstrasser for her contribution to data collection, Jakob Pinggera and Stefan Zugal for help with software programming and Wolfgang Fleischhacker for thoughtful comments. Furthermore, we thank the “Arbeitskreis fuer Vorsorgemedizin—Tirol” for administrative assistance in the collection of data from the general population. The “Jubilaeumsfond” of the Austrian National Bank as well as the “Qualitaetsfoerderprogramm” of the state of Tyrol funded parts of the project financially.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Innsbruck Medical University, Innsbruck, Austria

    Johannes Giesinger, Georg Kemmler, Gerhard Rumpold, Barbara Sperner-Unterweger & Bernhard Holzner

  2. Department of Internal Medicine, Kufstein County Hospital, Endach 27, 6330, Kufstein, Austria

    Verena Mueller & August Zabernigg

  3. Department of Internal Medicine IV, Wels County Hospital, A.ö. Krankenhaus der Kreuzschwestern, Grieskirchnerstr. 42, 4600, Wels, Austria

    Beate Mayrbaeurl & Josef Thaler

  4. Department of Visceral-, Transplant- and Thoracic Surgery, Innsbruck Medical University, Anichstr. 35, 6020, Innsbruck, Austria

    Dietmar Öfner & Christian Pegger

  5. Department of Informatics, University of Innsbruck, Technikerstr. 21a, 6020, Innsbruck, Austria

    Barbara Weber

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  1. Johannes Giesinger
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  2. Georg Kemmler
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Correspondence to Bernhard Holzner.

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Giesinger, J., Kemmler, G., Mueller, V. et al. Are gender-associated differences in quality of life in colorectal cancer patients disease-specific?. Qual Life Res 18, 547–555 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-009-9468-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-009-9468-0

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