How are people living with cancer living five years after the diagnosis? In the new VICAN5 * study conducted by Inserm (National Institute for Research and Medical Health) and INCa (National Cancer Institute), it is shown that cancer is a difficult test both physically and physically psychological, social, sentimental and familial for the patients who suffer from it.

Fatigue, a major handicap during and after illness

Today, more than three million people live in France with cancer or are cured. Medical advances in cancer diagnosis and treatment have helped reduce mortality. Yet five years after discovering that they were sick, patients complain of great fatigue.

"48.7% of people describe fatigue as a clinically significant symptom, the prevalence is higher in women and varies by location," the study says.

Health professionals recommend that patients with cancer attend regular physical activity . But more than half of them admit to having reduced or stopped any exercise, and only 12.7% practice it more.

Remission and professional life at half mast

Over time, the professional situation of sick people deteriorates. This mainly results in lower revenues. The reduction in the number of hours worked by the patients according to the treatments and their side effects explains in part this decrease in salary.

A large majority of sick people are also dissatisfied with the arrangement of working time. "The people who benefited from the improvements are women, people who were initially full-time, public sector employees and people on permanent contracts, and the independents have less use of these facilities," the study says.

Medical monitoring also takes a lot of place in the life of a cancer patient. Five years after the diagnosis of the disease, 56.9% have a specific follow-up in general medicine. But more than a third of patients say they are not being followed and do not feel informed enough about the symptoms of their illness.

* presse.inserm.fr / five-years-after-a-diagnosis-of-cancer-the-quality-of-life-and-the-status-in-employment-remain heavily-degraded / 31754 /