The health-related quality of life of early-onset colorectal cancer patients: an Australian cross-sectional study

Aim; Early-onset colorectal cancer (EOCRC) patients are more likely to have advanced disease and undergo more aggressive treatment modalities. However, current literature investigating the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of EOCRC patients is scarce. This study aimed to determine the HRQoL of an Australian cohort of EOCRC patients including a subset who underwent pelvic exenteration (PE) or cytoreductive surgery (CRS) and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC). Method: A cross-sectional study of EOCRC patients treated at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney Australia was performed. Patients were divided into groups based on the time interval from their index operation: <= 2 years and >2 years. HRQoL was evaluated using the SF-36v2 questionnaire. Results: A total of 50 patients were included. For patients <= 2 years from surgery, the median physical component summary (PCS) and mental health component summary (MCS) scores were 53.3 (36.4-58.9) and 47.3 (37.5-55.7). In the >2 years group, the median PCS and MCS scores were 50.6 (43.3-57.7) and 50.2 (39.04-56.2), respectively. Stage I (vs. stage II) disease and emergency (vs. elective) surgery conferred poorer PCS scores in patients <= 2 years from surgery. No other variables impacted PCS or MCS scores in EOCRC patients in either group. Conclusions: HRQoL of EOCRC patients was equivocal to the Australian population. Having an earlier stage of diagnosis and emergency index operation was associated with poorer levels of physical functioning in patients <= 2 years from surgery. However, because of the limitations of this study, these findings require validation in future large-scale prospective research.