Quality of life of people with cancers in Ibadan, Nigeria.

Background: Cancer is associated with psychological and physical morbidities. The presence of such comorbidities has been reported to worsen the overall outcome and quality of life (QOL) of affected people. Aims: To assess the QOL and its determinants among participants with cancer. Methods: We administered the short version of the World Health Organization Quality of Life-BREF instrument, socio-demographic/clinical data collection sheet and structured clinical interview for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) diagnosis to 210 consecutively admitted participants with cancer at the University College Hospital Ibadan to determine the diagnosis of major depression. Results: The sample consisted of 63 men and 147 women; 68 participants had cancer of the breast, while 59, 40 and 43 had cancers of the cervix, colon/rectum and prostate, respectively. The QOL of most of the participants was fair. Approximately 30% of the participants were depressed, 75.7% had pains while 49.5% of them had advanced cancer. Male sex, older age, depression, pains and advanced stage cancers were significantly associated with poor QOL. Conclusion: The QOL of participants is negatively affected by male sex, older age, depression, advanced stage of cancer and pains.