Health-related Quality of Life and Its Associated Factors among Gynecologic Cancer Patients at Oncology Centers in Northwest Ethiopia 2023: Structural Equation Modeling

Abstract

Background: Gynecologic cancer is becoming a serious health issue that affects patients' health related quality of life .The World Health Organization defines health-related quality of life as an individual's sense of their place in life to their goals, aspirations, standards, and concerns in the context of the culture and value systems in which they live. It is a broad notion that is intricately influenced by a person's physical and mental well-being, social interactions, and relationship to key environmental factors. In Ethiopia, factors affecting the quality of life of gynecologic cancer patients is not well explored. Thus, this study aimed to assess health related quality of life (HRQoL) among gynecologic cancer patients attending at oncology centers in Northwest Ethiopia. Objectives: To assess health-related quality of life and associated factors among gynecologic cancer patients in oncology centers in Northwest Ethiopia, 2023. Methods: An institution-based cross-sectional study with a total sample size of 608 gynecologic cancer patients were employed. Data were collected by interview administered questionnaire, coded and entered into Epi Data version 4.6, and then exported to STATA version 17 for further analysis. Texts, Figures, and Tables were used to present descriptive result. Structural equation model analysis was employed to verify the relation among, exogenous and endogenous variables. Result: Analysis includes 608 gynecologic cancer patients. The median age of participants were 48(IQR=43-54). The mean score of overall HRQoL was 41.62(± 7.22).The social functioning domain was the most affected domain with mean score of 22, 01(±8.6).marital status had a direct (β= -0.5323, 95%CI (-0.990,-0.0740)) and indirect negative effect (β= -0.2317, 95%CI (-0.4438,- 0.0195)) giving a negative total effect (β= -0.795, 95%CI (-1.192,-0.3981)) on global health domain of HRQoL. Conclusion and Recommendation: Patients with gynecologic cancer had poor quality of life in all domains of EORTC-QLQ30 and overall health-related quality of life except the cognitive domain. socio-demographic factors, namely age, marital status, educational status, occupation status), disease –and treatment related factors (stage of cancer, type of cancer and type of treatment received) were significantly associated factors with HRQoL of gynecologic cancer patients