Quality of Life in Patients with Pancreatic Cancer before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Andrea Alexander, Stephen Fung, Martin Eichler, Nadja Lehwald-Tywuschik, Vasuki Uthayakumar, Sami-Alexander Safi, Christian Vay, Hany Ashmawy, Sinan Kalmuk, Alexander Rehders, Sascha Vaghiri and Wolfram Trudo Knoefel
Additional contact information
Andrea Alexander: Department of General, Visceral and Pediatric Surgery, University Hospital Düsseldorf and Medical Faculty, Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf, 40225 Duesseldorf, Germany
Stephen Fung: Department of General, Visceral and Pediatric Surgery, University Hospital Düsseldorf and Medical Faculty, Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf, 40225 Duesseldorf, Germany
Martin Eichler: Clinic and Polyclinic for Internal Medicine I, University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus Dresden, 01307 Dresden, Germany
Nadja Lehwald-Tywuschik: Department of General, Visceral and Pediatric Surgery, University Hospital Düsseldorf and Medical Faculty, Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf, 40225 Duesseldorf, Germany
Vasuki Uthayakumar: Department of General, Visceral and Pediatric Surgery, University Hospital Düsseldorf and Medical Faculty, Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf, 40225 Duesseldorf, Germany
Sami-Alexander Safi: Department of General, Visceral and Pediatric Surgery, University Hospital Düsseldorf and Medical Faculty, Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf, 40225 Duesseldorf, Germany
Christian Vay: Department of General, Visceral and Pediatric Surgery, University Hospital Düsseldorf and Medical Faculty, Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf, 40225 Duesseldorf, Germany
Hany Ashmawy: Department of General, Visceral and Pediatric Surgery, University Hospital Düsseldorf and Medical Faculty, Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf, 40225 Duesseldorf, Germany
Sinan Kalmuk: Department of General, Visceral and Pediatric Surgery, University Hospital Düsseldorf and Medical Faculty, Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf, 40225 Duesseldorf, Germany
Alexander Rehders: Department of General, Visceral and Pediatric Surgery, University Hospital Düsseldorf and Medical Faculty, Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf, 40225 Duesseldorf, Germany
Sascha Vaghiri: Department of General, Visceral and Pediatric Surgery, University Hospital Düsseldorf and Medical Faculty, Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf, 40225 Duesseldorf, Germany
Wolfram Trudo Knoefel: Department of General, Visceral and Pediatric Surgery, University Hospital Düsseldorf and Medical Faculty, Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf, 40225 Duesseldorf, Germany

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 6, 1-10

Abstract: Background: Coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) substantially affects cancer patients due to adverse outcomes and disruptions in cancer care. Recent studies have indicated the additional stress and anxiety burden arising from the pandemic and impairing quality of life in this vulnerable group of patients. However, patients with cancer represent a heterogenous group. Therefore, we conducted a study on patients with pancreatic cancer, requiring demanding surgical interventions and chemotherapy regimens due to its aggressive tumor biology, to explore the pandemic’s impact on quality of life within this homogenous cohort. Methods: In a descriptive observational study, the quality of life of patients who had undergone pancreatic surgery for tumor resection at our institution between 2014 and the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020 was assessed. For HRQoL measurement, we used the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Core Questionnaire (EORTC QLQ-C30), comparing their situation before the pandemic and since its beginning. An additional self-developed questionnaire was applied to assess the life circumstances during the pandemic. Results: Our cohort included 26 patients. Scores from the survey in HRQoL revealed no significant changes over time between before and during the pandemic. A medium deterioration in HRQoL was apparent in social functioning, as well as a small deterioration in role functioning and emotional functioning. Worries concerning a potential impact of COVID-19 on personal health were expressed. Psychological limitations in QoL were mainly attributed to the pandemic, whereas physical limitations in QoL were rather associated with the underlying disease of pancreatic cancer. Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic is causing considerable social and emotional distress among pancreatic cancer patients. These patients will benefit from psychological support during the pandemic and beyond. Long-time survivors of pancreatic cancer, such as those included in our cohort, appear to have improved resilience facing the psychosocial challenges of the pandemic. For pancreatic cancer, surgical care is considered the cornerstone of treatment. Prolonged delays in healthcare cause serious damage to mental and physical health. To date, the longer-term clinical consequences are not known and can only be estimated. The potential tragic outcome for the vulnerable group of pancreatic cancer patients highlights the urgency of timely healthcare decisions to be addressed in the future.

Keywords: quality of life; pandemic; COVID-19; pancreatic tumor (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/6/3731/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/6/3731/ (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:19:y:2022:i:6:p:3731-:d:776044

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 ().