ISSN 2756-3332
African Journal of Nursing and Midwifery ISSN 2198-4638 Vol. 7 (1), pp. 001-004, January, 2019. © International Scholars Journals
Full Length Research Paper
The health and well-being of people with a previous diagnosis of cancer: A record-linkage study in Scotland
Josie M. M. Evans1*, Iain A. Atherton2, Chris Dibben3 and Gill Hubbard4
1School of Nursing, Midwifery and Health, University of Stirling, Stirling, FK9 4LA, United Kingdom.
2School of Nursing, Midwifery and Health, University of Stirling (Highland Campus), Inverness IV2 3JH, United Kingdom.
3School of Geography and Geosciences, University of St. Andrews, Irvine Building, North Street, St Andrews, KY16 9AL, United Kingdom.
4Cancer Care Research Centre, School of Nursing, Midwifery and Health, University of Stirling, Stirling, FK9 4LA, United Kingdom.
Accepted 24 October, 2018
Abstract
Routinely collected health care data (the Scottish Cancer Registry) were record-linked to representative survey data on health and health behaviours (the Government-funded Scottish Health Survey) to compare the health and well-being of cancer survivors in Scotland with people who had never had cancer; a methodological approach which has been under-utilised. After adjusting for age, sex and occupational classification, people with a previous diagnosis of cancer (even > 6 years previously) (n = were more likely to have poorer self-assessed health, reduced activity and psychological morbidity than people who had never had cancer (n = 25,631).
Key words: Cancer survivors, record-linkage, routine datasets, health and well-being.