Laura Litwin

Lung Cancers Today

Demographic characteristics and “disease-related factors” play a role in the unmet supportive care needs of patients diagnosed with lung cancer, according to a recent study published in the Journal of Multidisciplinary Healthcare.
The research was performed by a team of investigators from Taiwan, with the aim of evaluating the unmet supportive care needs of patients with lung cancer throughout cancer treatment and across different stages of the disease, including those already receiving treatment and those who were recently diagnosed.
It was important to conduct this study because of the high prevalence of lung cancer in Taiwan and the “frequent and severe unmet needs” faced by patients with the disease. The researchers also explained that patients typically encounter “physical, psychosocial, and lifestyle challenges” after being diagnosed with lung cancer.
The investigators analyzed data from 501 patients with lung cancer who were treated at a cancer center in central Taiwan. They evaluated the unmet supportive care needs faced by the cohort in the context of patient health information, patient care, treatment, nutrition, psychosocial, and economic needs. They also investigated correlations with cancer stage, treatment phase, age, and sex.
Of the entire cohort, 267 patients (53.29%) were male, and 234 (46.71%) were female, with a total average age of 62.03 years. When broken down by cancer stage, 284 (59.54%) patients had stage IV lung cancer and 75 (15.73%) had stage I and II. Furthermore, 74.45% of the participants were currently receiving treatment, and 14.32% were recently diagnosed with the disease.
According to the findings, “compared with male patients, female patients exhibited fewer unmet health information needs (aOR [adjusted odds ratio]=0.40; p=0.021).” Older patients were also found to have greater patient care needs than younger patients (aOR, 3.08; P=0.026).
When patients who were newly diagnosed were compared with patients already receiving treatment, individuals in the treatment and follow-up phases showed “significantly lower needs for health information than did those in the newly diagnosed phase.” In addition, patients in the newly diagnosed phase showed significantly higher needs for patient care than those in the treatment phase (aOR, 0.42; P=0.006), recurrence phase (aOR, 0.24; P=0.043), and follow-up phase (aOR, 0.12; P=0.007).
The results also indicated that patients in the treatment phase showed lower nutritional needs than those in the newly diagnosed phase, and psychosocial needs were higher for those in the treatment and recurrence phases.
The investigators concluded that “the unmet needs of lung cancer patients vary based on demographic characteristics and disease-related factors” and that “patients in the newly diagnosed phase have significantly higher unmet needs compared to other stages,” supporting the need for more individualized care for patients with lung cancer.
Reference
Lee PY, Chen YA, Tsai TH, Chen CY, Shieh SH. Unmet supportive care needs of lung cancer survival patients at different cancer stages and treatment phases. J Multidisc Healthc. 2025;18:435-444. doi:https://doi.org/10.2147/JMDH.S482232

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Patients in the treatment phase showed lower nutritional needs than those in the newly diagnosed phase, but psychosocial needs were higher in the treatment and recurrence groups.