The association of pulmonary function, physical activity, cardiorespiratory fitness, Borg dyspnea scales and health related quality of life in patients with resected lung cancer

Abstract Background Understanding the determinants of quality of life for the patients after lung resection would be beneficial to affect the prevention programs and the treatment strategies. This novel study aims to explore the relationship between pulmonary function, physical activity, cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF), dyspnea, and the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of patients with resected lung cancer. Methods A cross-sectional study design with 38 lung cancer survivors after surgery for one month was conducted. We assessed CRF by measuring maximal oxygen consumption (VO2max) and anaerobic threshold (VT).Forced vital capacity (FVC) was measured using a spirometer. Physical activity, dyspnea, and HRQoLwereinvestigated by 6-minute walking distance (6MWD), Borg dyspnea scales, and the SF-36 Health Survey (SF-36), respectively.Data analyses were conducted using SmartPLS to examine path analyses between the measures. Results There was a significant relationship between CRF andHRQoL in this cohort of cancer survivors.FVC (f2 = 0.265) and 6MWD (f2 = 0.389) have a medium to large effect size on the perceived CRF while CRF (f2 = 0.467) was found to have large effect sizes on perceived QoL. More importantly, our results showed that CRF positively and significantly mediated the paths betweenFVC, 6MWD, andHRQoL[β = 0.22 (0.457*0.474),P < 0.01; β = 0.28 (0.525*0.540), P < 0.01; respectively]. Conclusions Pulmonary function, physical activity, and dyspnea had an indirect effect on the quality of life in patients with resected lung cancer. Furthermore, CRF mediates pulmonary function and physical activity to produces an impact on their quality of life.