Quality of Life Significantly Lower With Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia

Whether on watch-and-wait or treatment regimens, patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia had significantly impaired quality of life compared with age-matched healthy control participants, according to a study published online in the European Journal of Haematology.

Researchers from the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research in Chandigarh, India, analyzed data from the European Organization for the Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire-
Cancer (QLQ-C30) and Quality of Life Questionnaire-Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (QLQ-CLL17) for 127 consecutive patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia and 100 age-matched healthy controls.

On all functional domains, quality of life was significantly impaired in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia compared with control participants, according to the study. Symptom scores in most domains were significantly higher in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

Among patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia specifically, quality of life did not differ with age or gender.

However, the study found that patients with lower socioeconomic status had more financial difficulty, and patients receiving chemoimmunotherapy had the worst global health. Meanwhile, patients on ibrutinib had fewer worries about health and functioning than patients on chemoimmunotherapy, the study found. —Jolynn Tumolo