Health Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) among Blood Cancer Patients in Pakistan
Health related quality of life is a significant measure in hematological malignancies. Assessing quality of life among blood cancer patients could contribute to improve treatment as well as survival of an individual. According to WHO, in Pakistan 173937 new cases were diagnosed
with cancer in 2018 among them approximately 4.1% were of leukemia, 3.4% of non- Hodgkin’s lymphoma, 0.92% Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and 0.81% of multiple myeloma. 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. Moreover, lower literacy rate, poor socio-economic status, socially stigmatized situation, and paucity of early detection programs for blood cancer add to burden of disease in
Pakistan.
Need for focus on Health Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) in Blood Cancer Patients
Poor health related quality of life among blood cancer patients has been reported which highlights the need for appropriate counseling, social support, and financial support along with high quality medical treatment in collaboration with radiologists, surgeons, pathologists,
pharmacist, and other health care team which can improve survival rate among blood cancer patients in Pakistan. As cancer is a chronic disease due to which patients feel difficulty to cope with it, which affect their health-related quality of life and they become depressed due to limited
social support. Extensive research has been conducted in developed world in this regard but limited data from developing countries, including Pakistan is available on this issue as most of the studies have focused on prevalence. Therefore, the present study was designed to assess
HRQoL among blood cancer patients.
Proposal of a roadmap to achieve better HRQoL in blood cancer patients of Pakistan
A descriptive cross-sectional study design was used to assess health related quality of life among blood cancer patients in twin cities (Islamabad and Rawalpindi) of Pakistan. Data was collected through a questionnaire from patients diagnosed with blood cancer aged between 18 and 65
years.
The study concluded that blood cancer patients had poor health related quality of life in Pakistan. Emotional functioning and cognitive function were the most compromised health related quality of life domains among blood cancer patients. Females having blood cancer, those patients treated in private sector healthcare facilities, patients residing in tribal and rural setting had relatively better health related quality of life. No specialized psychosocial care programs for the blood cancer patients are available at healthcare facilities in Pakistan. Adequate counselling was not provided to patients by the hospital staff. Better quality of life among blood cancer patients can be achieved with increased level of optimism, proper counseling, lower level of psychological distress, and by social support. Therefore, all stakeholders need to collaborate for designing