Impact of cancer occurrence on health-related quality of life: A longitudinal pre-post assessment

Table 2 Comparison of initial characteristics in the cancer (n = 84) and cancer-free (n = 420) groups

	Cancer				Cancer-free				p value ^b
	n	proportion	mean	sd ^a	n	proportion	mean	sd ^a
Age (years)			50.9	5.6			50.9	5.5	1.00
Female	48	57.1			240	57.1			1.00
Alone	13	15.9			59	14.4			0.73
Higher diploma									0.09
Without diploma	3	3.6			19	4.5
Less than High school diploma	21	25.0			154	36.7
High school diploma and higher	60	71.4			247	58.8
Body Mass Index (kg/m²)			23.8	3.6			24.1	3.5	0.43
Alcohol consumption (g/day)			22.5	25.1			20.5	22.9	0.48
Tobacco habits									0.46
Non-smoker	43	51.2			214	51.5
Former smoker	34	40.5			149	35.8
Current smoker	7	8.3			53	12.7
Tobacco consumption (cigarette-year)			7.8	12.5			6.9	11.8	0.54
Physical tiredness	19	22.9			61	14.7			0.07
Morbid conditions
Cardiovascular disease	1	1.2			8	1.9			1.00
Diabetes	2	2.4			4	1.0			0.26
Digestive disorder ^c	22	26.8			100	24.9			0.78
Miscellaneous comorbid conditions ^d	17	20.5			95	24.1			0.57
Number of symptoms (at enrolment) ^e			3.0	2.2			2.9	2.5	0.74

^a standard deviation ^b from t-test for quantitative variables and from chi square for categorical variables ^c gastric or duodenal ulcer, viral hepatitis, intestinal amebiosis, intestinal polyp, hiatal hernia or diaphragmatic hernia or gallstones. ^d asthma, rheumatism, rheumatoid arthritis or renal colic. ^e sum of different signs (see text)

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