Background

Cancer patients frequently experience emotional distress which negatively impact theirs quality of life. Aim of this study is to determine the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy in Greek Patients with Neoplasm based on FACT-G questionnaire.

Methods

A cross-sectional study was conducted in an Oncology department of a Greek Hospital. The convenience sample consists of 321 cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. Demographic data and functional levels assessed using the FACT-G Scale were collected. The FACT-G is a 27-item tool containing 4 subscales: physical (PWB), functional (FWB), social/family (SWB) and emotional (EWB) well-being. Each subscale has a score, and a higher score indicates better HRQOL. Clustering was performed on the above subscales, to investigate the existence of different subgroups.

Results

A total of 321 patients were invited to participate. Patients had an average age of 60,3 years and 63% were male. Several cancer types were referred, however the majority of patients’ diagnosis (72,8%) concerned lung and colorectal cancer. The Pearson correlation analysis indicated that high FACT-G total scores was associated with gender, age and educational level. Particularly, (i) PWB,SWB and EWB were associated with the gender; (ii) PWB and FWB with the age; and (iii) SWB, EWB and FWB with the educational level. Moreover, Mann-Whitney U test revealed that undergoing chemotherapy significantly influenced the FACT-G and SWB. In order to further investigate the role of undergoing chemotherapy, 200 out of 321 patients completed FACT-G questionnaire after 1st and 2nd cycle of chemotherapy. Cluster analysis revealed different patients’ subgroup based on the score of four above subscales, indications that further strengthen the results that came up from the statistical analysis.

Conclusions

Demographic factors play a critical role to the functional status of cancer patients. Moreover, the patients’ clustering based on the outcomes of FACT-G questionnaires offers a new frontier in patients’ management in the context of patients-centered approach.