Volume 29, Issue 159, May 2025

Quality of life in the terminal period of a cancer patient - the most common complaints

Karol Mateusz Wojnarowski^1♦, Justyna Gręda¹, Anna Klasa², Bartosz Zieliński¹, Filip Maj³

¹St. Alexander Hospital in Kielce, Poland
²The University Hospital in Krakow, Poland
³Collegium Medicum, Jan Kochanowski University, Kielce, Poland

^♦Corresponding author
Karol Mateusz Wojnarowski, St. Alexander Hospital in Kielce, Poland

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Cancer is a worldwide health issue, yet ongoing research and treatment improvements offer hope and progress to millions of people annually. In the advanced stages of cancer, the focus of care transitions from curing the illness to promoting patient comfort and improving their quality of life (QoL). QoL is a general term for how good a person's physical, emotional, social, and spiritual health is. The progression of the disease and the symptoms it causes can have a significant effect on these areas. The Aim: This review looks at the most common symptoms that affect QoL in terminally ill cancer patients. These include symptoms such as pain and fatigue, psychological challenges such as anxiety and demoralization, and social factors such as caregiver burden. Results: The review found that the most common symptoms affecting quality of life are pain, fatigue, breathlessness, and psychological distress. Feeling hopeless can make this suffering worse. Recent developments in palliative care, such as early integration into oncology, psychosocial interventions like cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), and caregiver support programs, have shown that they can improve patient outcomes. Conclusions: People with terminal cancer face many challenges that significantly reduce their quality of life. We must deal with these problems by caring for people at the end of their lives, which we know works. In future research, we should improve these strategies while ensuring each patient gets the necessary care.

Keywords: Quality of life (QoL), Palliative care, Symptom management, Anxiety, Depression

Medical Science, 2025, 29, e67ms3566

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.54905/disssi.v29i158.e67ms3566

Published: 18 May 2025