Health-Related Quality of Life in Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma Survivors: A Prospective Cohort Study

Purpose We evaluated health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in long-term survivors of indolent and aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). Materials and Methods The HRQOL was assessed by the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality-of-Life Questionnaire Core 30 (EORTC QLQ-C30) at diagnosis in NHL patients between 2008 and 2011, and follow-up evaluation was conducted from June 2014 to February 2015 using EORTC QLQ-C30 and the quality of life in cancer survivors (QOL-CS) questionnaire. We used linear mixed models to compare changes in HRQOL between indolent and aggressive NHL over time. Results The HRQOL of long-term survivors with aggressive NHL improved to the similar level of indolent NHL during the follow-up survey. However, survivors of NHL were found to fear the probability of relapse and second malignancy, and the degree of fear was not different between survivors with aggressive stage I/II or III/IV NHL (p > 0.05). Furthermore, a half of survivors reported impaired sense of psychosocial well-being regardless of aggressiveness and stage during follow-up survey. More than 65% of survivors thought they did not receive sufficient support from others, and patients who had financial difficulties at diagnosis were more frequently associated with suffering from insufficient support. Impaired physical and cognitive functioning at diagnosis was significantly associated with lack of life purpose in long-term survivors. Conclusion The HRQOL of aggressive NHL survivors improved to a similar level to that of indolent NHL. However, the majority of survivors still had fear of relapse, and psychosocial well-being remained unmet needs.