Health Related Quality of Life and Depression among Blood Cancer Patients in Pakistan: The Missing Public Health Link

Abstract

Introduction: Limited access to health care facilities, less number of qualified oncologists, lack of technical equipment for diagnosis are the major factors effecting adequate control and prevention of blood cancer in Pakistan. Objective: The objective of the study was to assess health related quality of life and depression among blood cancer patients in Pakistan. Methodology: A descriptive cross-sectional study design was used. Two pre validated questionnaires i.e. SF 36 and HADS were self-administered to a sample of 400 blood cancer patients’ selected using convenience sampling technique for measuring HRQoL and depression, respectively. After data collection, data was cleaned, coded and entered in SPSS. Results: The results highlighted that lowest scores for HRQoL among blood cancer patients were observed in the domain of role emotional (33.55,  ± 27.528) followed by bodily pain (42.93, ± 30.838) whereas highest scores were observed in the domain of mental health (73.7,  ± 18.488). Significant difference (p ≥ 0.05) was observed in HRQoL of cancer patients with different marital status, stages of blood cancer and receiving different types of therapies. Conclusion:The present study concluded that blood cancer patients had poor HRQoL and moderate depression in spite of advanced therapeutic strategies.