HORIZONS: Understanding the impact of cancer diagnosis and treatment
Research type
Research Study
Full title
HORIZONS: a cohort study to explore recovery of health and well-being in adults diagnosed with cancer
IRAS ID
202342
Contact name
Claire Foster
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
4 years, 11 months, 31 days
Research summary
Summary of Research
HORIZONS is a cohort study to explore recovery of health and well-being in adults diagnosed with cancer. Experiences and outcomes of cancer treatment and care are changing. A growing number of people are experiencing cancer not as a life-limiting disease, but as a life-changing and long-term condition. There is a growing imperative to understand the changing landscape of cancer and its consequences: as we do so, we will be better able to inform the design and delivery of cost effective interventions that make possible supported self-management, as well as service organization and delivery. \nThe key research questions are:\nWhat impact does cancer and its treatment have on the lives of people diagnosed with cancer in the short, medium and long term?\nWhat are the health outcomes, experiences and self-management activities over the life-course across different cancer types and who and what influence these?\nHORIZONS is a series of prospective cohort studies of adults treated for non-metastatic cancer to capture their health outcomes and experiences from before they begin active treatment and regularly over their life-course. Our initial cancer cohorts will be breast cancer (diagnosed under age 50), non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and gynaecological cancers (ovarian, cervical, uterine). We will start recruitment with three pilot sites in NHS Trusts before rolling out full recruitment to approximately 50 NHS secondary care Trusts. Questionnaires will be completed before treatment (baseline), and followed up at regular intervals. \nWe will maintain and develop HORIZONS as a national and international resource to explore consequences of different cancer diagnoses and treatments from the individual perspective across the life-course.Summary of Results
: HORIZONS followed over 3,000 people with a diagnosis of curable cancer for three years, starting before the beginning of their treatment. We are still analysing the results and will publish papers in the coming years. We have published one paper about the women with a gynaecological cancer taking part in the study. The main findings were:
• Quality of Life (QoL) fell in the three months following cancer diagnosis but then recovered, reaching pre-diagnosis levels or better in the next nine months.
• Poorer QoL pre-diagnosis and at 12 months was associated with depression and anxiety, living in a more socially deprived area, and having comorbidities.
• Better QoL pre-diagnosis and at 12 months was associated with greater self-efficacy and being aged 50 or over
Three other papers are being prepared currently, they describe and analyse:
• The different pathways that people living with and beyond cancer take during recovery
• The ways in which people living with and beyond cancer use resources to help manage their diagnosis and recovery
• How younger women with breast cancer are supported by friends, family, health professionals and others.REC name
North West - Preston Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/NW/0425
Date of REC Opinion
20 Jun 2016
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion