Predictors of quality of life in rural patients with cancer

Quality of life (QOL) as an outcome for cancer treatment has been studied p rimarily in urban populations. Yet, descriptions of rural dwellers suggest that their perception of QOL may differ From that of their urban counterpar ts. The purpose of this study was to examine QOL in people with a cancer di agnosis of at least 1 month duration in two similar rural northeastern stat es. The Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy General (FACT G) scale was completed by 344 respondents. The mean QOL score was 89.41 +/- 16.55. State of residence, gender, known recurrence, and marital status were significan t predictors of QOL, explaining 18.3% of the variance in this study. Age, e ducation level, income, type of cancer, living arrangements, and time since diagnosis were not predictive. The QOL scores in this rural sample were hi gher than those reported earlier for predominantly urban dwellers. Future r esearch is needed to understand these differences.