Abstract
BACKGROUND
Data from the Health Care Financing Administration's (HCFA) Medicare Health Outcomes Survey (MHOS) of patients enrolled in managed care services through Medicare were analyzed. The MHOS provided baseline estimates of quality of life of cancer survivors in comparison to a frequency ageโmatched cohort of noncancer patients.
METHOD
In 1998, the MHOS was mailed to a random sample of 279,135 beneficiaries. Completed surveys were received from 167,096 respondents (60%). Some 22,747 respondents who had been diagnosed with cancer were frequency age matched to an equal number of noncancer patients.
RESULTS
Cancer survivors had statistically significantly poorer scores than noncancer patients on all eight subscales as well as on the Physical Component and Mental Component summary measures of the Medical Outcomes Study Short Formโ36 (MOS SFโ36). Comparisons by type and number of cancers for which an individual was currently in treatment showed lowest quality of life for those in treatment for lung carcinoma, followed by those who were in treatment for more than one type of cancer.
CONCLUSION
The data suggest that cancer shows negative effects on healthโrelated quality of life that are not explainable by simple effects of age because frequency ageโmatched cancer survivors had statistically significantly lower scores on all 10 scores of the MOS SFโ36. Effect sizes are evaluated to determine the clinical significance of these differences in healthโrelated quality of life. The MHOS offers useful data for planning and improving cancer policy and programs. Cancer 2003;97:674โ81. Published 2003 by the American Cancer Society.
DOI 10.1002/cncr.11085