Quality of life of older gynecologic oncology patients at the initiation of chemotherapy.

AIM:To evaluate older gynecologic oncology patients' quality of life (QOL) at the initiation of chemotherapy and compare their QOL scores with a female age-matched general population (GP) sample. DESIGN:Cross-sectional. METHODS:Older (n = 122) gynecologic oncology patients completed the European Organization for the Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire (QLQ-C30) that evaluates global health and five functional scales (range from 0 to 100). Differences in QOL scores between our sample and the GP were evaluated using one-sample t-tests and effect sizes were calculated using Cohen's d. RESULTS:Patients' mean age was 70.7 years (±6.6). Mean scores for the function scales ranged from 58.5 (±31.1) for role function to 86.1 (±17.0) for cognitive function. Compared to the GP, our sample reported significantly lower scores for global health status, social, role and physical functioning, and a significantly higher score for cognitive functioning. No differences were found in emotional functioning scores. PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION:No patient or public contribution.