Long‐Term Quality of Life in 1777 Persons With Hodgkin Lymphoma and 6166 Matched Comparators

Survival has improved substantially for patients with Hodgkin lymphoma (HL), but long‐term quality of life (QoL) remains incompletely understood. This was a Danish, nationwide, cross‐sectional study of QoL among persons with a diagnosis of HL matched 1:10 to general population comparators. Questionnaires included the HeartQoL, the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Core‐30 (QLQ‐C30), the Short Form‐36 (SF‐36), and the EuroQoL Health Questionnaire (EQ‐5D). Mean differences (MD) were estimated using linear regression adjusted for sex and age, and stratified by time since diagnosis (0–5, > 5–10, and > 10 years). Overall, 1777 patients with HL (42% of 4156 invited) and 6166 matched comparators (14% of 41 558 invited) responded, and median age was similar (HL: 59, comparators: 61). Most had classical HL (92%). HL groups had consistently and significantly lower QoL than their respective comparators, with 0–5, > 5–10, and > 10 years post‐diagnosis MDs of −0.27, −0.28, and −0.24 for the HeartQoL, −7.4, −7.6, and −5.6 points for the QLQ‐C30 summary score, −4.5, −4.9, and −4.2 points for the SF‐36 physical component summary, and −0.05, −0.05, and −0.04 for the EQ‐5D index. The relative difference between the HL group and comparators decreased from baseline to > 10 years post‐diagnosis, but differences remained clinically important. The most pronounced symptoms were fatigue and dyspnea. To summarize, persons with HL experience reductions in QoL compared with the general population, even > 10 years post‐diagnosis. The observed differences were clinically relevant within several domains and emphasize the need for a multidisciplinary approach to survivorship care.