Quality of life in patients attending a low risk gynaecological oncology follow-up clinic

Objectives: (1) To assess the quality of life (QOL) of patients who had bee n treated for gynaecological malignancies and who were attending a low risk follow-up clinic. (2) To determine the accuracy of the clinic physicians' assessment of patients' QOL compared with the Functional Living Index-Cance r (FLI-C) [Schipper et al., 1984. Measuring the quality of life of cancer p atients: the Functional Living Index-Cancer: development and validation. J Clin Oncol 2(5): 472-483]. (3) To examine a single subjective question abou t change in QOL. (4) To assess patient fear of cancer recurrence. Design: Self-administered patient questionnaire. The questionnaire containe d the FLI-C, with four additional questions. Setting: Low risk (good prognosis) follow-up clinics in the Department of G ynaecological Oncology at King Edward Memorial Hospital (the tertiary centr e for obstetrics and gynaecology for the state of Western Australia). Patients: 202 consecutive attendees of the clinic. Non-English speaking pat ients attending without an interpreter were excluded. Results: Most patients reported a good QOL. The range of FLI-C scores was 5 9-154 (possible range 22-154), with a median score of 140 and a mean of 134 . Younger patients were more fearful of cancer recurrence. Radiotherapy was associated with a worsening of QOL. Patients living with partners experien ced deterioration in sexual functioning. Conclusions: Patients attending the low risk follow-up clinic after gynaeco logical malignancy have a good overall QOL. Copyright (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.