Table 4.
Somatic and mental morbidity of cancer survivors and controls
| Variables | Survivors (N = 334) |
Controls (N = 1,670) |
p-value | Effect size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Self-rated health | <0.001* | 0.26 | ||
| Good health | 151 (46) | 971 (59) | ||
| Poor health | 178 (54) | 687 (41) | ||
| Functional impairment | ||||
| Physical impairment | 76 (23) | 230 (13) | <0.001* | 0.26 |
| Mental impairment | 14 (4) | 62 (4) | 0.62* | |
| Somatic diseases | ||||
| Infarction, angina or stroke | 44 (13) | 223 (13) | 0.85* | |
| Diabetes | 14 (4) | 73 (4) | 0.83* | |
| Thyroid diseases | 48 (14) | 121 (7) | 0.001* | 0.23 |
| Osteoporosis | 17 (5) | 65 (4) | 0.84* | |
| Arthritis, arthrosis | 80 (24) | 408 (24) | 0.34* | |
| Musculo-skeletal diseases | 54 (16) | 207 (12) | 0.07* | |
| ≥1 comorbid disease(s) | 169 (51) | 809 (48) | 0.99* | |
| Significant somatic symptoms | ||||
| Muscular pain and stiffness affecting | ||||
| activities of daily living last month | 66 (20) | 322 (19) | 0.70* | |
| Gastrointestinal symptoms last year | 36 (11) | 165 (10) | 0.82* | |
| Headache last year | 76 (23) | 428 (26) | 0.19* | |
| Regular use of medication last year | ||||
| Daily use of any medication | 190 (57) | 822 (49) | 0.01* | 0.16 |
| Analgesics | 45 (14) | 179 (11) | 0.15* | |
| Psychotropics | 56 (17) | 187 (11) | 0.02* | 0.17 |
| Antihypertensives | 75 (23) | 361 (22) | 0.98* | |
| Mental variables | ||||
| HADS-Anxiety, mean (SD)a | 4.8 (3.8) | 4.0 (3.4) | 0.001* | 0.20 |
| HADS-Anxiety caseness, N (%) | 77 (25) | 208 (13) | <0.001* | 0.31 |
| HADS-Depression, mean (SD) a | 4.2 (3.3) | 4.1 (3.2) | 0.41* | |
| HADS-Depression caseness, N (%) | 47 (15) | 230 (14) | 0.73* | |
| Self-esteem score, mean (SD) | 5.6 (1.9) | 5.7 (1.6) | 0.39* | |
| Sleeping problems, N (%) | 89 (29) | 385 (24) | 0.35* | |
| Alcohol problems, N (%) | 25 (8) | 147 (8) | 0.57* | |
| Lifestyle variables | ||||
| BMI, mean (SD) | 27.6 (4.5) | 27.4 (4.2) | 0.84* | |
| Physical activity, N (%) | 0.42* | |||
| Minimal | 86 (31) | 475 (34) | ||
| Moderate or more | 188 (69) | 930 (66) | ||
| Daily smoker | 64 (23) | 308 (22) | 0.49* | |
| Framingham risk score | ||||
| Framingham sum score, mean (SD) | 16.4 (2.9) | 16.0 (2.9) | 0.01 | 0.14 |
| Framingham risk >20%, N (%) | 198 (58) | 867 (52) | 0.12 | |
* Adjusted for age and sex a Non-parametric test