Comorbidities, treatment-related consequences, and health-related quality of life among rural cancer survivors

Purpose We explored how lifetime comorbidities and treatment-related cancer symptoms were associated with quality of life (QOL) in rural cancer survivors. Methods Survivors (n = 125) who were rural Illinois residents aged 18+ years old were recruited from January 2017 to September 2018. We conducted 4 multivariable regressions with QOL domains as outcomes (social well-being, functional well-being, mental health-MHQOL, physical health-PHQOL); the number of physical and psychological comorbidities (e.g., arthritis, high blood pressure, stroke) and treatment-related cancer symptoms (e.g., worrying, feeling sad, lack of appetite, lack of energy) as predictors; and, cancer-related and demographic factors related to these variables as covariates. Results The number of comorbidities and number of treatment-related symptoms were inversely associated with functional well-being (Std beta = - 0.36, p < 0.0001 and - 0.18, p = 0.03), and MHQOL (Std beta = - 0.30, p = 0.001 and Std beta = - 0.25, p = 0.004). Comorbidities were associated inversely with social well-being (Std beta = - 0.27, p = .003). Comorbidities and treatment-related symptoms were not associated with PHQOL (p = 0.20-0.24). Sensitivity analyses suggested that psychological comorbidities, treatment-related psychological symptoms, and physical comorbidities were associated with social well-being, functional well-being, and MHQOL. Conclusions Our study highlights the utility of risk-based survivorship care plans to address the negative, additive impact of comorbidities and the treatment-related symptoms to improve the health-related QOL among rural survivors. Future research should assess how contextual factors (e.g., geographic distance to oncologists and other providers) should be incorporated in survivorship care planning and implementation for rural survivors.