Influence of gender on quality of life after lung surgery

Possible differences in quality of life between men and women after lung surgery needs further study.

We performed a prospective, population-based cohort study to analyse health-related quality of life before and 6 months after lung surgery. The aim of the study was to compare the changes in quality of life in men and women undergoing lung surgery. The main outcome measures were fractional change in the physical and mental component summary scores of Short Form-36.

A baseline Short Form-36 questionnaire was completed by 130 men and 119 women. Baseline characteristics and operative data were comparable between groups. The response rate at 6 months was 82% in men and 86% in women (p=0.47). Prior to surgery, similar impairments were found in the mental domain compared to a matched reference population in both men (42.3 vs 51.5, p<0.001) and women (36.4 vs 49.8, p<0.001). At 6 months, the physical domain was significantly worse than preoperatively in both men (45.2 vs 40.5, p<0.001) and women (46.1 vs 39.5, p<0.001). There was no significant difference in the fractional change in the physical (-14% vs -13%, p=0.85) or mental (1.3% vs 11%, p=0.09) component summary scores between men and women.

We found no evidence for a sex-associated difference in quality of life after lung surgery. Both men and women experience significant impairment in both physical and mental aspects of quality of life 6 months after lung surgery compared with the normal population.