The association of quality-of-life measures with malignancy and survival in patients with pancreatic pathology.

OBJECTIVES: This study assessed whether pretreatment quality-of-life (QoL) scores could predict the presence of pancreatic malignancy and survival.
METHODS: Patients with pancreatic lesions completed the SF-36, containing 8 domains: physical functioning, role-physical, role-emotional, bodily pain, vitality, mental health, social functioning, and general health. Data obtained included age, sex, resectability, additional antineoplastic therapy, stage, pathology, and survival. Patients were categorized by pathology (benign vs malignant), stage (local, regional, or distant), resectability (resected vs not), survival (<1 vs >1 year), and their pretreatment QoL scores.
RESULTS: Of the 323 patients assessed, 210 had malignancies. In 6 of the 8 domains, patients with malignancies had lower median QoL scores compared with patients with benign lesions. Of the patients with malignancies, patients surviving at 1 year or less had lower pretreatment scores in all domains. Stage, resection, adjuvant therapy, and vitality score were independent predictors of survival.
CONCLUSIONS: Patients with pancreatic malignancies had lower QoL scores than patients with benign pancreatic disease. Patients with malignancies surviving at 1 year or less had lower scores, even after controlling for stage. This suggests that pretreatment QoL scores are associated with pancreatic malignancy and survival.