Role of sex on psychological distress, quality of life, and coping of patients with advanced colorectal and non-colorectal cancer

Table 1 Patients’ baseline characteristics, n = 203

Characteristic	Total		Colorectal, n = 101		Non-colorectal digestive cancer, n = 102		P value	λ
	n	%	n	%	n	%
Sex							0.622	0.026
Men	115	56.7	60	59.4	55	53.9
Women	88	43.3	41	40.6	47	46.1
Age							0.028	0.081
≤ 65 yr	85	41.9	50	49.5	35	34.3
> 65 yr	118	59.1	51	50.5	67	65.7
Number of Elixhauser comorbidities (%)							0.344	0.033
≤ 4	81	39.9	37	36.6	44	43.1
> 4	122	60.1	64	63.4	58	56.9
ECOG							0.029	0.086
0	56	27.6	35	34.7	21	20.6
1	138	68.0	62	61.4	76	74.5
2	9	4.4	4	4.0	5	4.9
Marital status							0.883	0.001
Married/partnered	167	86.6	87	86.2	92	87.0
Not partnered	36	13.4	24	13.8	24	13.0
Children							0.370	0.029
Do not have children	35	17.2	15	14.9	20	19.6
Have children	168	82.8	86	85.1	82	81.4
Educational level							0.521	0.010
Primary	112	55.2	58	57.4	54	52.9
High school or higher	91	44.8	43	42.6	48	47.1
Histology							0.001	0.129
Adenocarcinoma	180	88.7	98	97.0	82	80.4
Others	23	11.3	3	3.0	20	19.6
Metastasis							0.001	0.218
Locally advanced	32	15.8	1	1.0	31	30.4
Metastatic disease	171	84.2	100	99.0	71	69.6
Biomarker							0.001	0.196
No	161	79.3	66	65.3	95	93.1
Yes	42	20.7	35	34.7	7	6.9
Estimated survival							0.001	0.776
< 18 mo	108	53.2	14	13.9	94	92.2
≥ 18 mo	95	4.8	87	86.1	8	7.8
Treatment modality							0.001	0.339
Chemotherapy	139	68.5	45	44.6	94	92.2
Combined	64	31.5	56	54.4	8	7.8

ECOG: Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group.

Table 2 Univariate general linear model for predicting psychological distress, quality of life, and coping strategies by tumor and sex

Scales	Colorectal cancer, n = 101		Non-colorectal digestive cancer, n = 102		ANOVA results, F
	Men, mean (SD)	Women, mean (SD)	Men, mean (SD)	Women, mean (SD)	Tumor × sex	Tumor	Sex
Psych. distress (BSI)1
Somatization	62.0 (6.3)	64.1 (8.0)	63.9 (6.7)	66.3 (8.1)	0.021	3.963	5.044
Depression	60.3 (6.6)	65.0 (6.6)	60.1 (5.5)	62.9 (7.5)	0.923	1.423	15.747
Anxiety	61.9 (7.8)	65.8 (8.3)	61.9 (6.8)	66.0 (8.3)	0.030	0.011	12.818
Quality of life (EORTC-QLQ-C30)2
Functional scale	79.6 (17.4)	62.3 (23.0)	70.8 (22.6)	60.8 (24.0)	1.427	2.781	19.697
Symptom scale	24.4 (22.9)	29.8 (19.4)	28.6 (17.8)	40.0 (22.1)	1.044	6.067	8.154
Health status scale	67.6 (22.6)	53.7 (27.9)	51.9 (23.5)	55.1 (32.8)	5.185	3.547	2.059
Coping with cancer (M-MAC)2
Helplessness	24.0 (22.9)	25.0 (21.9)	25.9 (22.8)	28.6 (25.6)	0.069	0.696	0.288
Anxious preoccupation	46.2 (24.4)	51.4 (18.8)	43.8 (19.0)	54.4 (23.6)	0.800	0.008	6.722
Positive attitude	83.4 (16.5)	76.8 (18.1)	79.2 (15.8)	74.9 (22.9)	0.186	1.364	4.389
Cognitive avoidance	66.6 (27.3)	60.6 (21.6)	64.3 (24.5)	60.2 (27.1)	0.036	0.192	1.758

¹T score.

²Scale from 0 to 100.

ANOVA: Analysis of variance; BSI: Brief Symptom Inventory; EORTC-QLQ-C30: European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire; M-MAC: Mini-Mental Adjustment to Cancer; SD: Standard deviation.