Subjective life expectancy of middle-aged and older adult cancer survivors: A cross-sectional study in Korea using age-specific subgroup analysis

Abstract

Objective: As the population ages and the survival rate of cancer patients increases, long-term management of older adult cancer survivors has become important. Subjective life expectancy (SLE) is a concept that refers to an individual's particular predicted lifespan, which enables individuals to live an active life with hopeful expectations for the extension of a healthy life. Therefore, this study aims to identify the factors related to SLE according to age group, to help enable middle-aged and older adult cancer survivors to actively live out their lives with a sense of control. Design: A descriptive, cross-sectional study was used. Methods: This study included 538 participants in the fifth to seventh survey data of the Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging dataset. Moreover, we conducted multivariable regression analyses. Results: The participants of this study were 137 middle-aged (under 64 years), 196 young-old (65-74 years), 164 old-old (75-84 years) and 41 oldest-old (over 85 years) cancer survivors. The mean age of the participants was 71.22 +/- 9.4 years. The factors related to SLE were employment status (beta = 7.43, p = 0.018) and quality of life (QOL) (beta = 0.25, p = 0.010) for the middle-aged group and age (beta = -1.50, p = 0.002) and employment status (beta = 10.44, p = 0.003), and QOL (beta = 0.31, p < 0.001) in the young-old group; in the old-old group and oldest-old group, the predictors of SLE were QOL (beta = 0.35, p = 0.004) and social network (beta = 2.76, p = 0.018). Conclusion: The SLE of middle-aged and older adult cancer survivors was different by age group, and related factors also varied by it. Therefore, an individual approach for each age group is required to effectively promote SLE. Implications for practice: By developing and applying differentiated nursing interventions suitable for each age group for middle-aged and older adult cancer survivors, it should be possible to help them make a healthy transition with positive expectations for life extension.