PHYSICAL AND PSYCHOSOCIAL OUTCOMES IN CANCER-PATIENTS - A COMPARISON OF DIFFERENT AGE-GROUPS

In a cross-sectional study, we investigated the relationship between a ge, physical health, social and economic resources, functional status, activities of daily living (ADL) and disease-related variables of 227 patients with cancer. Using multidimensional outcome measures we exam ined age differences in three age groups (< 45, 46-65, > 65 years) and identified predictors of performing ADL. The results indicated that o lder patients have outcomes similar to those of younger patients. Ther e were no significant differences in quality of life, performance stat us and physical health among the three age groups, The only areas wher e age-related differences were found were comorbidity and cancer-relat ed impairments. Patients aged 45-65 years and patients 65 years and ol der reported a higher level of co-morbidity and more cancer-related im pairments than those aged 45 and younger. Although older patients had higher co-morbidity, they showed similar Karnofsky Performance Status (KPS) scores to those of their younger counterparts. The regression an alysis revealed social resources, self-reported health, performance st atus and complexity of care as significant predictors of patients' ADL , but not age, co-morbidity or severity of treatment. The findings sup port the conclusion that differences in performing ADL between younger and older patients with cancer are minimal and tend to be due to co-m orbidity. Thus, treatment should be decided by a patient's physical he alth rather than by age.