Title

Health-related quality of life among colorectal cancer survivors of diverse sexual orientations

UMMS Affiliation

Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences

Publication Date

2021-10-15

Document Type

Article

Disciplines

Digestive System Diseases | Epidemiology | Gender and Sexuality | Health Services Administration | Health Services Research | Neoplasms | Oncology

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to examine the health-related quality of life of sexual minority survivors in comparison with heterosexual survivors.

METHODS: Four hundred eighty eligible survivors participated in a telephone survey that measured survivors' outcomes, which consisted of physical and mental quality of life and self-rated fair or poor health. These survivors were diagnosed with stage I, II, or III colorectal cancer an average of 3 years before the survey and were recruited from 4 cancer registries. Using forward selection with generalized linear models or logistic regression models, the authors considered 4 domains-personal factors, environmental factors, health condition characteristics, and body function and structure-as correlates for each survivorship outcome.

RESULTS: The authors found that unadjusted physical quality of life and self-rated fair/poor health were similar for all survivors. Sexual minority survivors had poorer unadjusted mental quality of life in comparison with heterosexual survivors. After adjustments for covariates, this difference was no longer statistically significant. Three domains (personal factors, health condition characteristics, and body function and structure) explained colorectal cancer survivors' fair/poor health and 46% of the variance in physical quality of life, whereas 56% of the variance in mental quality of life was explained by personal factors, body function and structure, and environmental factors.

CONCLUSIONS: This study has identified modifiable factors that can be used to improve cancer survivors' quality of life and are, therefore, relevant to ongoing efforts to improve the survivorship experience.

Keywords

cancer survivorship, colorectal neoplasms, quality of life, sexual and gender minorities

DOI of Published Version

10.1002/cncr.33762

Source

Boehmer U, Ozonoff A, Winter M, Berklein F, Potter J, Hartshorn KL, Ward KC, Ceballos RM, Clark MA. Health-related quality of life among colorectal cancer survivors of diverse sexual orientations. Cancer. 2021 Oct 15;127(20):3847-3855. doi: 10.1002/cncr.33762. Epub 2021 Jul 8. PMID: 34237147; PMCID: PMC8478814. Link to article on publisher's site

Journal/Book/Conference Title

Cancer

PubMed ID

34237147

Related Resources

Link to Article in PubMed

Link to Full Text

Share

COinS