Association between perceived interpersonal support and quality of life among adult patients with cancer undergoing chemotherapy at an academic cancer institute.

Abstract

e23181 Background: The National Cancer Institute (NCI) defines quality of life (QOL) as “overall enjoyment of life.” Increasingly, cancer care is focused not only on increasing survival time through treatments like chemotherapy but on maintaining and/or improving QOL. Strong interpersonal support, as a social determinant of health, can improve QOL through enhanced resilience to stress, protection against trauma-related experiences, and reduced clinical morbidity and mortality. Methods: This study enrolled patients from the Brown University Health Cancer Institute at The Miriam Hospital (TMH) in Rhode Island who were adults 18+ and on chemotherapy infusion treatment with an active cancer diagnosis. Patients were randomly selected for an in-person interview during scheduled chemotherapy infusion appointments within a three month timeframe. We collected patient demographics and study staff administered the 16-item Quality of Life Scale (QOLS) and 12-item Interpersonal Support Evaluation List (ISEL). We ran linear regressions to understand any association between performance on the ISEL and performance on the QOLS. The same analysis was done to identify statistically significant associations between demographic characteristics and performance on either survey. Results: Of 432 eligible chemotherapy patients during the study period, 93 (22%) completed the prospective surveys. The average (SD) age was 68.4 years old (10.3). The majority of patients were male (51%), Caucasian (80%), married (65%), on Medicare (62%), diagnosed in 2023 or 2024 (59%), and the most common cancers were gastrointestinal (30%), genitourinary (24%), and breast (17%). Among participants who fully completed the ISEL (n = 91) and QOLS (n = 55) surveys, the mean (SD) ISEL total score was 31.2 (6.0) out of a maximum of 36 and the mean QOLS total score was 93.5 (11.8) out of a maximum of 112. The coefficient for ISEL total score was 0.86 (95% CI, 0.28 to 1.43; P = 0.004), indicating that a one unit increase in the ISEL score led to a 0.86 unit increase in the QOLS score. Patients who identified as “Black or African American” or “Other” had a significantly lower ISEL total score, with a coefficient of -5.36 (95% CI, -9.39 to -1.32; P = 0.010) and -4.91 (95% CI, -8.95 to -0.88; P = 0.018), respectively, compared to those who identified as “White or Caucasian”. Conclusions: Our study validates a positive association between perceived interpersonal support and quality of life in the tested sample. We further contribute to the literature by identifying potentially generalizable significant racial disparities in perceived interpersonal support. The results found here point to a need for internal medicine physicians, oncologists, and care team members to coordinate alongside social workers to provide resources that can improve interpersonal support among patients with cancer.