P-149 Changes of quality of life in elderly gastrointestinal cancer patients after curative surgery in South Korea.

Introduction: Early detection of cancer and improved treatment have led to higher survival rates and an increasing number of long-term survivors in oncology practice. But there are few longitudinal Quality of Life (QoL) studies in patients who experienced cancer surgery. To investigate the longitudinal change in QoL of elderly gastrointestinal cancer patients, we designed prospective study for QoL in resected gastrointestinal cancer patients. Methods: A prospective longitudinal cohort study was designed. Patients from Hallym, Ajou, and Samsung medical center in South Korea were enrolled consecutively from February to September of 2012. Patients over 55 years old who received curative resection due to gastrointestinal cancer were included. They were given questionnaires every 6 months since then, and we've been using EORTC QLQ C-30 as quality of life scale. We selected patients using propensity score matching (PSM). The mean scores of the patients completing the interview at the 3 time points were compared using mixed model. Results: A total of 353 patients with gastrointestinal cancer were interviewed at baseline. We dichotomized patients into 2 groups (< 70 years old vs. >= 70 years old). There were significant differences in ECOG performance status between 2 groups. After balancing with PSM, we selected 272 patients. Overall QoL did not show significant difference between 2 groups at baseline interview. After repeated interview, the score of global health status, physical functioning, and pain showed significantly higher in younger group (< 70 years old). But other items didn't show significant difference. Especially patients in both group felt financial difficulty increased. Conclusion: Although the elderly gastrointestinal cancer patients showed lower score in global health status, physical function and pain, they maintained relatively well-preserved functional status after curative surgery. But as time goes by, most patients felt increased financial burden.