Quality of life of elderly Chinese rectal cancer patients after preventative anal surgery: a cohort study.

BACKGROUND/AIM: To assess the QOL in rectal cancer patients after preventative anal operation and to discuss the influence of age on perceived quality of life.

METHODOLOGY: A prospective study of 342 patients with rectal cancer from May 2011 to January 2012 in the gastrointestinal surgery department was randomly selected and divided into the elderly group and the young group, and the differences in their QOL assessed by the questionnaire QLQ-C30, after preventative anal surgery (7 days) were compared.

RESULTS

A total of 207 patients met the study criteria and were divided into the elderly group (≥60 years, 107 cases) and the young group (<60 years, 100 cases). The incidences of complication with pneumonia (p=0.030), wound infection (p=0.024) and ileus (p=0.036) were higher in the elderly group. In the QLQ-C30 assessment, the physical function in the elderly group was worse (p=0.004). Additionally, the fatigue of symptom, sleep disturbance and poor appetite (p<0.001), and global quality of life (p=0.002) were worse in the elderly group too. However, the role and emotional function were better in the elderly group (p<0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

The QOL in elderly patients is generally worse than young patients, and a targeted approach should be used.