The Quality of Life and Fatigue of Gastric Cancer Patients

Background/Objectives: This study was conducted to identify the quality of life and fatigue of patients with gastric cancer and to analyze various factors to develop fatigue measuring tools for cancer patients. Methods/Statistical analysis: From October 2014 to February 2015, data were collected from 140 gastric cancer patients at two higher-grade general hospitals in Seoul. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the general characteristics of the subjects, and the relationship between quality of life and fatigue was analyzed using Pearson’s correlation. Findings: The average score of the subject's pain was 16.29±22.32. The mean fatigue score was 23.73±25.79, and the mean quality of life score was 42.02±33.93. Quality of life was negatively correlated with cancer fatigue (r=-.454, p<.001). The quality of life subscale and cancer fatigue were significantly negatively correlated with overall QOL and general health (r = -.295, p < .001), physical factors (r = -.506, p < .001), psychological factors (r=-.352, p < .001), social factors (r = -.406, p < .001), and environmental factors (r = .314, p < .001). Improvements/Applications: This study confirmed the factors related to the quality of life and fatigue of patients with gastric cancer. In the future, we suggest establishing the fatigue factor of Korean cancer patients through more active and careful research.