Search

Background: In Mexico, patients with hematologic malignancies (HMs) are characterized by being at high risk and advanced stages at diagnosis and by having a low cure rate; yet information on their experiences with health care and health-related quality of life (HRQL) is scarce. We aimed to evaluate experiences with health care and HRQL of patients with HMs and the association between these patient-reported measures. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional survey in two public oncology hospitals in Mexico City. The study included outpatient cancer patients aged ≥18 years with a diagnosis of leukemia, lymphoma, or multiple myeloma. We used a patient-centered quality of cancer care questionnaire to assess patient experiences with receiving 1) timely care; 2) clear information; 3) information for treatment decision-making; 4) care to address biopsychosocial needs; and 5) respectful and coordinated care. We applied the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire (EORTC QLQ-C30) to measure HRQL. We performed a multiple linear regression to evaluate the association between patient-reported experiences (independent variables) and the QLQ-C30 summary score (dependent variable). Results: Of the 515 participating HM patients, 46.6% had lymphoma, 34% leukemia, and 19.4% multiple myeloma; 70.9% were at advanced stages or at high risk. Additionally, 15.1% had anxiety and 12.8% had depression. Over one third (35.9%) reported receiving clear information, 28.5% timely care, 20.6% information for treatment decision-making, 23.7% care that addressed their biopsychosocial needs, and 31% respectful and coordinated care. The mean QLQ-C30 summary score was 71.9 points. Timely care, clear information, and care that addresses biopsychosocial needs were associated with higher HRQL. Conclusions: Health care services for HM patients at public oncology hospitals in Mexico need improvement. Notably, providing timely care, clear information, and care that addresses patients’ biopsychosocial needs can increase the likelihood of better HRQL. Health care providers should measure and improve the experiences of HM patients with health care.

Introduction: In Mexico patients with hematologic malignancies (HMs) are characterized by high risk, advanced stages at diagnosis and a low cure rate; yet the information on their experiences with healthcare and health-related quality of life (HRQL) is scarce. We aimed to evaluate experiences with healthcare and HRQL of patients with HMs.Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional survey in two oncology hospitals in Mexico City. The study included outpatient cancer patients aged ≥ 18 years with a diagnosis of leukemia, lymphoma, or multiple myeloma. We used a patient-centered quality of cancer care questionnaire to assess experiences with care and the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire (EORTC QLQ-C30) to measure HRQL. We performed a multiple linear regression to evaluate the association between patient experiences and the QLQ-C30 summary score.Results: Of the 515 participating HM patients, 46.6% had lymphoma, 34% leukemia, and 19.4% multiple myeloma; 70.9% were at advanced stages or at high risk; 15.1% had anxiety and 12.8% had depression. Over one third (35.9%) received clear information, 28.5% timely care, 20.6% information for treatment decision-making, 23.7% care that addressed their biopsychological needs, and 31% respectful and coordinated care. The mean QLQ-C30 summary score was 71.9 points. Timely care, clarity of the information, and care that addresses biopsychological needs were associated with higher HRQL.Conclusions: Healthcare providers are encouraged to measure and address the experiences with healthcare of HM patients to improve the quality of patient-centered cancer care and increase the likelihood of better HRQL.