‘Determinants of Quality of Life Among Gynaecological Cancer Patients on Follow Up at a Referral Hospital in Kenya’ Brief Review
It’s nice to be reviewing another article in a specific country, as it can more easily be applied to my research than studies concerning overarching topics, ones that likely apply in almost every study. Kenya, specifically, is of even greater interest to me, as it’s a country that both has various problems and has previously been studied already.
Similar to the last article that I reviewed, it is interesting to analyze the impact of age and duration of treatment as determinants of QOL. In this instance, being of the age group of 65+ was a positive determinant of QOL in almost all regards. Interestingly, the article proposes such a result to be a feature of African society, in which older women are more heavily supported by family and friends.
Unsurprisingly, occupational status and income level had a significant bearing on QOL. I don’t think there has been an article that has proposed the opposite, and maybe only one or two that I’ve reviewed have proposed no correlation. Furthermore, education level (unsurprisingly, as well) was again found to be a significant determinant of QOL. The reasoning proposed, which I completely understand, states that low levels of education are often associated with later screening and lowered awareness of the disease.
Interestingly, there was found to have been a negative correlation between marital status and QOL. While I understand the perspective that cancer treatments would change the dynamic between partners, I would assume that the significant social and emotional support would make up for decreases in physical and psychological QOL.
Similar to one of the earliest studies that I reviewed, there were significant differences between types of cancer and QOL. I really have nothing to add to this point — I’ve already discussed at length in an earlier article.
There are a few references I will be pursuing as a result of this paper. Quality of life for Hong Kong Chinese patients with advanced gynecological cancers in the palliative phase of care: a cross-sectional study, quality of life in Brazilian breast cancer survivors age 45-65 years: associated factors, and Quality of life in women with gynaecologic cancer in Turkey, amongst a few others.
