Examination of the factors affecting the quality of life in patients with brain tumors admitted to foundation university hospital

Introduction: Patients with brain tumors experience both general symptoms of cancer and neurological symptoms. The symptoms experienced by patients affect their functio-nal status and impair their quality of life. Aim: This study aimed examining the impact of the characteristics of patient with brain tumors. Materials and Method: The sample of the study consisted of 107 patients who were diagnosed with brain tumors between June 2017-January 2018 in the Neurosurgery Cli-nic of a foundation university hospital in Istanbul. "Introductory Information Form for Brain Tumor Patients" prepared by the researcher in the collection of data, M.D. Ander-son Brain Tumor Symptom Inventory (MDA-BTSETr) and Functional Assessment of Brain Cancer Treatment (BKTFDTr) Scale were used. Data were evaluated in SPSS 22.0 program, using descriptive statistical analysis (number, percentage, mean, Standard de-viation), t-test, (Oneway) Anova test, Scheffe test, Pearson Correlation and Regression Analysis, with %95 trust interval, p<0.05 meaning level. Results: It was determined that the average age of the patients was 47.81 ± 14.93, more than half (52.3%) were male, 60.7% were married and 31.8% were high school gradua-tes. From the sociodemographic characteristics of patients with brain tumors; the social insurance coverage of the treatment status, working status, and the introductory charac-teristics of the disease; the presence of chronic disease, tumor type, tumor stage, time since diagnosis, and therapeutic features of the treatment; There was a significant diffe-rence between corticosteroid, anticonvulsant, antiemetic, analgesic use, and quality of life according to previous treatment (surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, gammaknife biopsy) (p<0.05). The functional status of the patients was 103.8(±15.5) with a total average score and above the middle level, and the highest and cognitive symptoms ave-rages were 1.29(±1.6), with emotional symptoms average scores of 4.13(± 1.7) was fo-und to be the lowest, among the symptom sub-items, the highest rate of exhaustion (7.66±2.1) and sleep disturbance (5.93±2.2). When the effects of symptoms on quality of life are examined; it was determined that all symptoms had a weak negative relati-onship with functional evaluation status, and their quality of life decreased poorly as the symptom score averages increased. Emotional symptoms (ß=-1,907) and the inhibition of the individual's life (ß=-2,493) negatively affected the functional evaluation score and decreased the total change in the functional evaluation score by 32% (R2=0.32). Conclusion and Recommendations: The quality of life of patients with brain tumors; It was found that social security, working status, chronic disease, tumor type, tumor stage, date of diagnosis, previous state of brain surgery were different from anticonvulsant, corticosteroid, analgesic and antiemetic drug use and affect emotional symptoms negatively. It is suggested to use the MDA-BTSETr symptom inventory and BKTFDTr scale routinely in patients with primary brain tumors, to conduct studies in which the symptoms are assessed in groups with large sampling and at different stages of the dise-ase, and to provide counseling services to the patient, especially emotionally. Keywords: Brain Tumor, Symptom, Functional Assesment, Quality of Life, Nursery