Journal of Education and Health Promotion

Factors affecting quality of life and fatigue in patients with leukemia under chemotherapy

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

. Amir Musarezaie
. Firuz Khaledi 1
. Homayoon Naji Esfahani 2
. Tahere Momeni Ghaleghasemi

1 Department of Psychiatric Nursing, School of Nursing and Midwifery

2 Department of Operating Room, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran

Abstract
Background: The goal of treating chronic diseases, including hematologic malignancies, is
to increase patients’ life span and to improve their capabilities as much as possible; so that
patients could maintain an appropriate level of quality of life (QoL) and continue their lives. Most
studies performed to evaluate the treatment of various diseases were mostly focused on the
increase of life expectancy regardless of the QoL and treatment issues. Furthermore, fatigue
is one of the most common and distressing side effects of cancer and treatments related to it,
which can affect a patient’s QoL, and be followed by many problems. This study was designed
and implemented with the aim to determine the factors affecting the QoL and fatigue in patients
with leukemia undergoing chemotherapy. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional
correlation descriptive-analytical study. One hundred and fifteen patients with leukemia referred
to Sayyed-Al-Shohada Hospital were enrolled in the study through convenient sampling method.
To collect data, a three-part questionnaire was used: The first part was related to demographic
characteristics and disease-related data and the second part was the fatigue check list and
the third part was the Short-Form 36 Health Survey (SF-36) related to QoL. The data were
analyzed after collection and coding through Software SPSS version 18 and descriptive and
analytical statistics (analysis of variance test, independent t test, Pearson’s and Spearman’s
correlation coefficient) with 95% confidence interval. Results: The results showed that there was
a significant correlation between QoL in Physical Component Summary with gender (P = 0.03),
educational level (P = 0.09), and marital status (P = 0.004), Also there was a significant correlation
between QoL in Mental Component Summary with educational level (P = 0.01) and economic
status (P = 0.02). Findings showed that there was a significant correlation between fatigue
and marital status (P = 0.005). But statistically there was no significant correlation between
demographic variables such as age, educational level, and employment status with patients’
fatigue. Spearman correlation coefficient showed that there was a significant correlation between
fatigues with pain (P = 0.005). Also findings revealed the statistically significant correlation
between fatigues with economic status (P = 0.003). Conclusion: According to the present
results, it seems that some demographic
factors affect QoL and significant relationship
exists between them. Fatigue in patients
with leukemia dramatically affects their QoL.
Therefore, it is important for medical staff to
pay attention to demographics and fatigue
in leukemic patients in order to improve their
QoL and help them to organize their activities
to promote health and QoL.

Keywords

Chemotherapy
fatigue
leukemia
quality of life
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Journal of Education and Health Promotion
Volume 4, Issue 3
Spring 2014
Pages 1-6

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