Unmet Supportive Care Needs of Survival Patients with Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma

Ya-Ling Lin, Chun-Yi Chuang, Vivian Chia-Rong Hsieh, Ming-Shou Tsai, Yen-Fang Liu, Xian-Xiu Chen and Shwn-Huey Shieh
Additional contact information
Ya-Ling Lin: Department of Public Health, China Medical University, Taichung 40402, Taiwan
Chun-Yi Chuang: School of Medicine, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung 40201, Taiwan
Vivian Chia-Rong Hsieh: Department of Health Services Administration, China Medical University, Taichung 40402, Taiwan
Ming-Shou Tsai: Department of Otorhinolaryngology, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung 40402, Taiwan
Yen-Fang Liu: Department of Nursing, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung 40402, Taiwan
Xian-Xiu Chen: Chinese Medicine Research Center, China Medical University, Taichung 40402, Taiwan
Shwn-Huey Shieh: Department of Health Services Administration, China Medical University, Taichung 40402, Taiwan

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 10, 1-13

Abstract: This study examined unmet supportive care needs for nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) patients by cancer stage and treatment phase, as well as the factors associated with these unmet needs. At a cancer center in central Taiwan, information on consultations and services patients received at the resource center was described in the service chart. We extracted data available for NPC patients to evaluate their unmet supportive care needs (health information, patient care, treatment, nutritional, psychosocial, and economic) and their association with sex, age, cancer stage, and treatment phase. The 145 NPC patients were 68.3% male, 60.0% less than 50 years old, and 83.5% diagnosed at stages III and IV. The most prevalent unmet need was nutritional (40.7%), followed by psychosocial and patient care, with economic unmet needs the least (4.8%). Women were more likely than men to have patient care unmet needs (32.6% vs. 15.2%). Nutritional unmet need was higher in older patients than in younger ones (83.3% vs. 35.6%), with an adjusted odds ratio (aOR) of 9.39 (95% confidence interval (CI) = 2.17–40.70). Psychosocial unmet needs were higher in younger patients than old patients (34.5% vs. 0%) and in patients interviewed during follow-up period than those at newly diagnosed (55.2% vs. 23.1%). In conclusion, the most commonly reported concern was nutritional unmet needs for NPC patients. Their unmet needs may vary by demographic and disease factors, including patient sex and age, cancer stage, and treatment phase.

Keywords: unmet care needs; survival patients; nasopharyngeal carcinoma; cancer stages and treatment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/10/3519/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/10/3519/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:10:p:3519-:d:359596

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().