Summary

^{Introduction:} Chemotherapy is one of the most commonly employed cancer treatments since its use provides a strong evidence for disease-free survival as well as overall survival for several cancer types. This type of treatment is associated with detrimental side effects that are difficult to tolerate and that impact the quality of life (QOL) of patients on different levels. As more patients undergo adjuvant chemotherapy, there has been a growing interest in investigating its impact on health-related quality of life (HRQOL). To our knowledge, most published literature focuses on HRQOL at specific time points during chemotherapy and only limited data describes the dynamics of HRQOL starting before treatment, during the complete duration and after completion of chemotherapy

^Objective: The objective of this study is to evaluate the impact of adjuvant chemotherapy on a patient’s quality of life before the start, half-way through, at the end and 3 months after the end of chemotherapy and to examine whether individual differences in quality of life among adjuvant chemotherapy patients could be accounted for by selected demographic and medical characteristics.

^Methods: Seventy-eight patients diagnosed with solid tumors were interviewed before starting their first chemotherapy at Sacré-Coeur hospital, Rafic Hariri University Hospital, Saint Joseph Hospital, Family Medical Center between January 1st, 2016 and December 31st, 2018. Data collection included the EORTC core quality of life questionnaire (QLQ_C30) which was filled before, during, at the end and 3 months after undergoing adjuvant chemotherapy. The statistical analysis was done using the SPSS program and the strength and the direction of association that exists between variables were measured using Pearson correlation. Repeated measure ANOVA was used to compare results of the QLQ-C30 scores test in different categories of patients.

^Result: The QLQ-C30 scores showed statistically significant changes over time, F(1.889, 145.462)=85.632, p<0.001, partial η2=0.527, with QLQ-C30 score increasing from 46.37±10.36 pre-intervention to 66.56±15.70 during adjuvant chemotherapy, then decreasing to 64.21±15.49 directly post-intervention, and further decreasing to 53.29±12.56 3 months after the end of the treatment. There was no statistically significant correlation between age at diagnosis, comorbidities, number of chemotherapy cycles, type of cancer and QLQ-C30 scores before, during and after adjuvant chemotherapy.

^Conclusion: The impact of adjuvant chemotherapy on HR-QoL was transient and less substantial than the process of adaptation to the disease. Moreover, after completion of cytotoxic treatment, there was no lasting adverse effect on QoL. These results can guide patients on treatment options and informed decision- making can be made by the clinician.

^Keywords: Cancer; HR-QoL; Adjuvant chemotherapy

^{Abbreviations:} HR-QoL: Heath Related Quality of Life; QoL: Quality of Life