Mapping unmet supportive care needs, quality of life perceptions and current symptoms in cancer survivors across the Asia-Pacific region: Results from the international STEP study

Background To assess the supportive care needs, quality of life (QOL) and symptoms of patients with cancer after the end of first line treatments and into survivorship in Asian countries using Australian data as benchmark. Patients And Methods A cross-sectional survey was carried out in Australia and eight high income (HICs) and low/middle income (LMICs) Asian countries (China, Japan, Hong Kong SAR, South Korea, Myanmar, Thailand, India, Philippines) using validated scales (Cancer Survivors Unmet Needs scale-CaSUN), physical-symptom concerns (Cancer Survivors Survey of Needs-CSSN subscale) and a single-item measure of global QOL perception. Results Data was collected from 1,748 patients from nine countries. QOL was highest in Australia and all other countries had significantly lower QOL than Australia (all PConclusion Health care systems in Asian countries need to re-think and prioritise survivorship cancer care and put action plans in place to overcome some of the challenges surrounding the delivery of optimal supportive cancer care, use available resource-stratified guidelines for supportive care and test efficient and cost-effective models of survivorship care