Quality of life and the impact from sociodemographic and clinical parameters in Chinese chronic lymphocytic leukemia patients: an observational cohort study

Background: Relatively few studies have reported quality of life (QoL) and psychosocial distress in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). This study aims to assess the QoL and psychological distress and the impact from sociodemographic and clinical parameters in the Chinese context.Methods: Taking advantage of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) QLQ-C30 questionnaire with QLQ-CLL17 module and DASS-21 questionnaire, a total of 50 Chinese patients with CLL completed self-reported questionnaires, assessing the level of depression, anxiety, stress and QoL.Results: A significantly higher proportion of patients in the active-treatment group had impaired physical function than the “watch and wait” group (90% vs. 65%, P=0.03). Patients with active treatment reported a significantly lower QoL in the role functioning subscale (84.44±25.50 vs. 95.83±9.17, P=0.031) and cognitive functioning subscale (76.67±18.88 vs. 89.17±12.42, P=0.007). The symptom scales had a negative impact on the functioning subscale. A dramatically high proportion of patients reported psychological distress. With regard to sociodemographic parameters, gender, age, education background and income had certain impact on functional subscales. 5 patients retested the questionnaires after median 8（2-18）months. Compared to the initial assessment, they scored significantly worse on the emotional scales (P=0.0237).Conclusions: There are unique correlates of QoL and disease status among Chinese CLL patients. This finding illuminates individual differences that may be associated with QoL. Therefore, psychosocial interventions and survivorship care plans should be made in the management of CLL survivors.