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Associations of Uncertainty With Psychological Health and Quality of Life in Older Adults With Advanced Cancer.
- Source :
-
Journal of Pain & Symptom Management . Feb2021, Vol. 61 Issue 2, p369-369. 1p. - Publication Year :
- 2021
-
Abstract
- <bold>Context: </bold>Older adults with advanced cancer face uncertainty related to their disease and treatment.<bold>Objectives: </bold>To evaluate the associations of uncertainty with psychological health and quality of life (QoL) in older adults with advanced cancer.<bold>Methods: </bold>Secondary cross-sectional analysis of baseline data from a national clustered geriatric assessment trial. Patients 70 years and older with advanced cancer considering a new line of chemotherapy were recruited. We measured uncertainty using the modified nine-item Mishel Uncertainty in Illness Scale. Dependent variables included anxiety (Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7), depression (Generalized Depression Scale-15), distress (distress thermometer), QoL (Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General), and emotional well-being (Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General subscale). We used multivariate linear regression analyses to evaluate the association of uncertainty with each dependent variable. We conducted a partial least squares analysis with a variable importance in projection (VIP) plot to assess the contribution of individual variables to the model. Variables with a VIP <0.8 were considered less influential.<bold>Results: </bold>We included 527 patients (median age 76 years; range 70-96). In multivariate analyses, higher levels of uncertainty were significantly associated with greater anxiety (β = 0.11; SE = 0.04), depression (β = 0.09; SE = 0.02), distress (β = 0.12; SE = 0.02), as well as lower QoL (β = -1.08; SE = 0.11) and emotional well-being (β = -0.29; SE = 0.03); the effect sizes were considered small. Uncertainty items related to disease and treatment were most strongly associated with psychological health and QoL scores (all VIP >0.8).<bold>Conclusion: </bold>Uncertainty among older patients with advanced cancer is associated with worse psychological health and QoL. Tailored uncertainty management strategies are warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Subjects :
- *OLDER people
*CANCER patients
*UNCERTAINTY
*QUALITY of life
*PSYCHOLOGICAL distress
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 08853924
- Volume :
- 61
- Issue :
- 2
- Database :
- Academic Search Index
- Journal :
- Journal of Pain & Symptom Management
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 148022231
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2020.08.012