Purpose: The aim of the current study was as follows: (1) explore symptoms associated with distress, anxiety, depression, and chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy and health-related QOL; (2) explore the correlations between demographic characteristics, disease characteristics, anxiety, depression, and QOL; and (3) identify the predictors of QOL.
Methods: A cross-sectional, correlational study was conducted. Patients were assessed using the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire Chemotherapy-induced Peripheral Neuropathy 20 (EORTC QLQ-CIPN20), the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy/Gynecologic Oncology Group-Neurotoxicity (FACT/GOG-Ntx), the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Lung(FACT-L),and a background information form. Patients were recruited from four chest medicine wards for advanced lung cancer in a medical center in northern Taiwan. Data were analyzed by descriptive analysis, Pearson’s product-moment correlation, and multiple regression. A total of 67 advanced lung cancer patients were recruited for this study.
Results: (1) a significant negatively correlation was found among chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy QOL, grade of peripheral neuropathy, peripheral neuropathy symptom distress, and depression, while chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy QOL was positive correlated with physical well-being; (2) a significant positive correlation was found among health-related QOL, age, physical well-being, social/family well-being, emotional well-being, and functional well-being, while health-related QOL was negatively correlated with anxiety and depression; (3) stepwise regression showed that peripheral neuropathy symptom distress predicts chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy QOL, with 62.7% explained variance; and (4) age, physical well-being, and anxiety predict health-related QOL, with 46.9% explained variance.
Conclusion: The results of this study can help healthcare providers understand the issues and predictors of chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy QOL in patients with advanced lung cancer, provide effective and individualized health education in a timely fashion, and provide a reference for clinical care.