Cancer survivors in Norway have normal living conditions

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May 3 2006

In the context of sociological research, cancer patients' quality of life and living conditions constitute their welfare.

Little has been explored in regard to living conditions, but this data would reflect social indicators that stimulate social inclusion and reduce social exclusion. These social indicators consist of education, health, housing economy and social participation. Dr. Gudbergsson and associates in Oslo, Norway studied these variables in cancer patients and report their findings in the epub version of Support Care Cancer.

The cohort consisted of 852 breast, prostate and testicular cancer patients diagnosed between ages 25 and 57 years with primary treatment started between 1998 and 2002. Participants had no evidence of disease after primary treatment. These patients received a validated questionnaire covering socio-demographic variables, work situations, health, and benefits.

Questionnaires were returned by 60% of cancer survivors compared to 45% of gender-, age- and municipality-matched controls. The responses in the 513 patients were; breast 269, prostate 71 and testicular 173. No significant demographic data differences were found between responders and non-responders from the information on hand.

Compared to controls, cancer survivors demonstrated no differences in having full-time jobs or work hours. However, they reported significantly poorer physical and mental work capacity. This seemed to reflect more somatic disease conditions among the cancer survivors and poorer health in male survivors. While the survivors resided in smaller households, they had more living space per household occupant. Female survivors reported more friends than controls, but this was not found in male survivors.

These data provide another measure of overall patient well being in addition to treatment related quality of life measures that are commonly reported in the United States. It suggests that holding a job protects cancer survivors against reduced living conditions.

By Christopher P. Evans, MD