Cancer as a chronic illness: support needs and experiences.

Patients are living longer with active, advanced or metastatic disease that cannot be cured, but may be managed (ie, 'chronic cancer'). The experiences and needs within this growing group are likely to be different from those shortly after diagnosis, on active curative treatment, or in the palliative or end-of-life phase, yet are poorly defined. We described chronic cancer patient experiences and support needs in a quantitative, multicentre cross-sectional study. Patients from five district general hospitals in England completed the 75-item Chronic Cancer Experiences Questionnaire (CCEQ). Responses were described and linear regression analysis was performed to explore the associations between poorer patient experiences and clinical/sociodemographic variables. In total, 416 patients with prostate cancer (28%), breast cancer (24%), gynaecological cancer (19%), colorectal/gastrointestinal cancer (17%) and renal cancer (12%) completed the CCEQ (response rate 90%). Younger patients, those who had a longer interval between primary and advanced diagnosis and those not in a relationship, had worse experiences (R Psychological burden remains high in the chronic phase of cancer, and patients experience ongoing difficulties in accessing support and services. Younger patients who have been ill for longer and those who have less social support may be particularly vulnerable, and future studies are needed to investigate the best way to meet the unique needs of this growing patient population.

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Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

Competing interests: None declared.