Table 1.
Sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of patients with and without curability beliefs.
| Variable | Category | Without curability beliefs [N = 239] (“Cannot be cured but I will try to control the cancer”, “Cannot be cured and additional cancer treatment is not suitable for me”, or “do not know”) |
Having curability beliefs [N = 143] (“will be cured” or “may be cured if the treatment is successful”) |
P-value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age (years) | Mean (SD) | 58.5 (11.0) | 61.69 (11.2) | 0.01 |
| Sexa | Male/Female | 122 (56.0%)/115 (71.0%) | 96 (44.0%)/47 (29.0%) | 0.003 |
| Educational achievement | < High school/ ≥ High school | 83 (62.4%)/156 (62.7%) | 50 (37.6%)/93 (37.4%) | 0.96 |
| Monthly income | < 3,000 USD/ ≥ 3,000 USD | 174 (61.9%)/65 (64.4%) | 107 (38.1%)/36 (35.6%) | 0.7 |
| Residential areab | Rural or suburban/Metropolitan area | 123 (57.8%)/113 (68.5%) | 90 (42.3%)/52 (31.5%) | 0.03 |
| Marital statusb | Unmarried/Married | 57 (63.0%)/179 (61.9%) | 32 (36.0%)/110 (38.1%) | 0.72 |
| Religious practice | No/yes | 104 (64.6%)/135 (61.1%) | 57 (35.4%)/86 (38.9%) | 0.48 |
| Primary tumor sitec | Breast/lung/stomach-colon-hepato-biliary-pancreatic/hematologic | 54 (65.1%)/55 (63.2%)/114 (61.0%)/13 (65.0%) | 29 (34.9%)/32 (36.8%)/73 (39.0%)/7 (35.0%) | 0.92 |
| Number of metastatic sitesa | 0/1/2/3/4/5 | 13 (54.2%)/82 (64.1%)/69 (56.6%)/44 (65.7%)/22 (75.9%)/8 (72.7%) | 11 (45.8%)/46 (35.9%)/53 (43.4)/23 (34.3%)/7 (24.1%)/3 (27.3%) | 0.34 |
| Type of cancer treatmenta | Standard chemotherapy ongoing | 77 (59.2%) | 53 (40.8%) | 0.0001* |
| Standard chemotherapy suspended | 17 (60.7%) | 11 (39.3%) | ||
| Advanced cancer treatment (including immunotherapy and clinical trials) | 57 (50.4%) | 56 (49.6%) | ||
| All anti-cancer treatment stopped | 87 (79.1%) | 23 (20.9%) | ||
| Performance status (ECOG-PSb) | 0 (Fully active and can carry out all pre-disease activities without restriction)/1 (Restricted in physically strenuous activities, but remains ambulatory and able to carry out work of a light or sedentary nature)/2 (Ambulatory and capable of all self-care, but unable to carry out any work activities; “up and about” > 50% of waking hours)/3 (Capable of only limited self-care; confined to bed or chair > 50% of waking hours)/4 (Completely disabled; cannot carry out any self-care; totally confined to bed or chair) | 9 (40.9%)/85 (51.8%)/68 (73.1%)/55 (73.3%)/22 (75.6%) | 13 (59.1%)/79 (48.2%)/25 (26.9%)/20 (26.7%)/6 (21.4%) | < 0.0001* |
| Symptom burden (EORTC QLQ-C15-PAL)d | QOL | 42.6 (22.9) | 57.0 (23.3) | < 0.0001* |
| Physical functioning | 48.9 (25.8) | 60.1 (23.5) | < 0.0001* | |
| Emotional functioning | 67.5 (29.5) | 79.6 (23.3) | < 0.0001* | |
| Appetite loss | 44.1 (35.2) | 29.3 (29.8) | < 0.0001* | |
| Fatigue | 48.7 (29.3) | 35.4 (24.4) | < 0.0001* | |
| Dyspnea | 30.7 (31.6) | 18.3 (24.0) | < 0.0001* | |
| Insomnia | 38.2 (33.5) | 24.9 (30.3) | 0.0001* | |
| Pain | 38.2 (31.8) | 26.4 (27.3) | 0.0002* | |
| Constipation | 33.8 (35.5) | 25.4 (29.4) | 0.0133 | |
| Nausea/vomiting | 12.6 (14.4) | 10.8 (13.0) | 0.2106 | |
| Depressionb (PHQ-9 total score) | No (0–4)/mild (5–9)/moderate (10–14)/moderately severe (15–19)/severe (20–27) | 46 (43.8%)/62 (56.4%)/61 (72.5%)/39 (79.6%)/26 (89.7%) | 59 (56.2%)/48 (43.6%)/22 (26.5%)/10 (20.4%)/3 (10.3%) | < 0.0001* |
| Patients’ perceived life expectancyd | Similar to those with same age/several years or more/several months or more/within a few months/not sure | 14 (21.2%)/72 (67.9%)/24 (75.0%)/19 (100%)/109 (69.4%) | 52 (78.8%)/34 (32.1%)/8 (25.0%)/0 (0%)/48 (30.6%) | < 0.0001* |
| 1-year survival | Alive at 1-year follow-up/expired/censored | 119 (55.0%)/114 (70.8%)/6 (75.0%) | 94 (44.1%)/47 (29.2%)/2 (25.0%) | 0.0097 |
| End-of-life care (Place of death) | Tertiary or secondary hospital/nursing hospital/hospice/home/unspecified location | 40 (60.6%)/1 (50%)/17 (94.4%)/4 (57.1%)/52 (76.5%) | 26 (39.4%)/1 (50%)/1 (5.6%)/3 (42.9%)/16 (23.5%) | 0.0358 |
*P < 0.001.
HR, hazard ratio; CI, confidence interval; GI, gastrointestinal; ECOG-PS, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status; EORTC QLQ-C15-PAL, European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire Core 15 Palliative scores; USD, United States dollar; PHQ-9, Patient Health Questionnaire-9.
aMissing, n = 1; bmissing, n = 4; cmissing, n = 5; dmissing, n = 2.