Abstract
Despite the burden and prevalence of colorectal cancer (CRC), there is only limited
information regarding quality of life of patients who have survived beyond the first
year post treatment. We assessed quality of life in a population-based cohort of 309
patients with CRC from Saarland (Germany) one and three years after diagnosis using
the QLQ-C30 questionnaire and the tumour specific module QLQ-CR38. When compared with
reference data from the general population, most patients with CRC reported high overall
quality of life and only small deficits in physical functioning but deficits in emotional
and social functioning persist over years in patients with colorectal cancer. Improvements
in quality of life from the first to the third year after diagnosis in patients who
remained free of disease were very modest and limited to less financial difficulties,
a better future perspective and fewer stoma-related problems.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
January 17,
2006
Received in revised form:
January 10,
2006
Received:
December 7,
2005
Identification
Copyright
© 2006 Elsevier Ltd. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
