• Ivete Alonso Bredda Saad, Neury José Botega, and Ivan Felizardo Contrera Toro.
• Hospital das Clínicas, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Rua Maria José Ferreira 116, Campinas (SP), CEP 13085-085, Brazil. iabsaad@globo.com
• Sao Paulo Med J. 2007 Jan 4; 125 (1): 464946-9.

Context And ObjectiveThere is increasing involvement of health professionals in organizing protocols to determine the impact of lung surgery on functional state and activities of daily living, with the aim of improving quality of life (QoL). The objective of this study was to investigate predictors of QoL improvement among patients undergoing parenchyma resection due to lung cancer.Design And SettingProspective study, at teaching hospital of Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp).Methods36 patients with lung cancer diagnosis were assessed before surgery and on the 30th, 90th and 180th days after surgery. The Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) was used as the dependent variable. The independent variables were the Hospital Anxiety and Depression (HAD) scale, a six-minute walking test (6-MWT), a visual analogue scale for pain, forced vital capacity (FVC), type of surgery and use of radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Generalized estimation equations (GEE) were utilized.ResultsThe median age for these 20 men and 16 women was 55.5 +/- 13.4 years. Both FVC and 6-MWT were predictors of improvement in the physical dimensions of QoL (p = 0.011 and 0.0003, respectively), as was smaller extent of surgical resection (p = 0.04). The social component of QoL had improved by the third postoperative month (p = 0.0005).ConclusionThe predictors that affected QoL positively were better FVC and 6-MWT results and less extensive lung resection. Three months after the surgery, an improvement in social life was already seen.

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