posted on 2019-08-05, 09:43authored byRebecca M. Schwartz, Katherine A. Ornstein, Bian Liu, Naomi Alpert, Kristin G. Bevilacqua, Emanuela Taioli
Age-related decreases in Quality of Life (QoL) are often compounded by comorbidities, including cancer. This study aimed to examine QoL changes before and after a new cancer diagnosis using data from the National Health and Aging Trend Study (NHATS), linked to Medicare claims (N = 136). There was a significant increase in the relative odds of fair/poor self-reported health and needing help with Activities of Daily Living. There was also a marginal increase in depression, but no change in anxiety or pain scores. Results underscore importance of considering pre-cancer QoL when making treatment decisions for older adult cancer patients.
Funding
NHATS is sponsored by NIA Grant U01AG032947 through a cooperative agreement with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.