Impact of chemotherapy upon quality of life for patients with chronic myeloid leukemia

Abstract EN

Objective(s) : to determine the impact of Chemotherapy upon the quality of life for patients with chronic myeloid leukemia in Baghdad city.

Methodology : A descriptive study design was carried out The study was initiated from 30 January 2011 to October 2011.A purposive (non–probability) sample consisted of (130) patients with a chronic myeloid leukemia, Who attended to Baghdad Teaching Hospital and National Center for Research and Treatment of Hematology.

The sample criteria were the patients who were 18 years old and above, excluding the patients who suffered from psychological problems and other chronic illnesses.

A questionnaire was adopted and developed from European Organization Research and treatment of Cancer Quality of life group (EORTC- QoLG).The questionnaire was designed and composed of two parts : the first part deals with the sociodemographic clinical characteristics of CML patients, the second part includes six domains of the quality of life which are symptoms (disease and treatment-related), psychosocial, infertility, satisfaction, adherence to therapy, and body image.

The reliability and validity of questionnaire were determined through a pilot study by correlation coefficient method, while the content validity of the questionnaire was determined through a panel of experts.

The data was collected through the application of the questionnaire, the self-report, interview technique and patient sheets.

The data was analyzed through the descriptive data analysis approach, which included frequency, percentage, standard deviation, mean, mean of score and inferential data approach (T-test, ANOVA).

Results : the present results revealed that the majority (33.84 %), of the study sample were within the age groups (31–40) years.

The results showed that the mean score were low QoL with all domains except satisfaction aspect indicated high QoL.

There was a statistically significant association between QoL as a general and sex, marital status, occupation, crowding index, duration of disease, phase of disease and performance status, while there was no statistically significant association between QoL as a general and age, socioeconomic status, and educational level.

The revealed no effect of disease and treatment related on quality of life.

Recommendation : the study recommended the establishment of hematology center, bone marrow transplantation, the provision of genetic test, according to international standards and the second generation of treatment.