Risk factors of inability to live independently in the course of lung cancer
Marek Tradecki
Orcid profile, , Roma Roemer-Ślimak
Orcid profile, Grzegorz Mazur
Orcid profile and Aleksandra Butrym
Orcid profile 
Article Category: Original Study
Published Online: Sep 12, 2022
Page range: 402 - 406
Received: Feb 06, 2022
Accepted: Jun 29, 2022
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/ahem-2022-0050
Keywords
© 2022 Marek Tradecki et al., published by Sciendo
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Introduction
A number of articles focus on functioning with lung cancer. However, there are no articles on factors which result in the inability to live independently in the course of this disease. This study assesses risk factors regarding the inability to live independently among individuals with lung cancer.
Materials and Methods
This study included 134 patients who displayed interest in obtaining a certificate of the inability to live independently.
Results
Over the study period, 75% of the patients obtained the certificate of inability to live independently (group A) and 25% of them did not obtain the certificate (group B). In group A, 56.4% of individuals were men, and in group B, 42.4% of them were men. In group A, 11.8% of patients were diagnosed with small cell lung cancer; no such case was found in group B. Metastases were revealed in 83.2% of patients from group A and in 57.6% from group B. Patients from group A had a significantly lower score in the Barthel Index for Activities of Daily Living and lower body mass index compared with those from group B.
Conclusions
Information on body mass index, histopathological diagnosis, and the presence of metastases is useful in assessing the risk of being unable to live independently in patients with lung cancer. The Barthel Index for Activities of Daily Living is helpful in assessing the inability to live independently.