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Background: The aim of this study was to assess the impact on quality of life from informing patients with cancer of their diagnosis and disease status., Method: We searched the follow databases, PubMed, CENTRAL (Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials), PsycINFO, WEB OF SCIENCE, Embase, CBM (Chinese Biomedical Literature database), WANFANG database (Chinese Medicine Premier), and CNKI (China National Knowledge Infrastructure), using the following terms: neoplasm, cancer, tumor, tumor, carcinoma, disclosure, truth telling, breaking bad news, knowledge, knowing, awareness, quality of life, QOL. Pairs of reviewers independently screened documents and extracted the data, and the meta-analysis was performed using Revman 5.0 software., Results: Eleven thousand seven hundred forty records retrieved from the databases and 23 studies were included in the final analysis. A meta-analysis revealed that there were no differences in either the general quality of life and symptoms of fatigue, pain, dyspnea, insomnia, appetite loss, and diarrhea, between informed and uniformed cancer patients (P > 0.05). There were also no differences found between the patient groups in physical function, role function, cognitive activity, and emotional function (P > 0.05). In terms of vitality, patients who were completely informed about their diagnosis showed higher vitality than uniformed patients. Uninformed patients seemed to have lower social function scores. Between partly informed and uninformed cancer patients, no differences were found in their general quality of life, function domains, and disease-related symptoms (P > 0.05)., Conclusion: Informing cancer patients of their diagnosis may not have a detrimental effect on their quality of life., Trial Registration: CRD42017060073 .

Objective: This study examined how awareness of diagnostic label impacted self-reported quality of life (QOL) in persons with varying degrees of cognitive impairment., Method: Older adults (n = 259) with normal cognition, Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), or mild Alzheimer's disease dementia (AD) completed tests of cognition and self-report questionnaires that assessed diagnosis awareness and multiple domains of QOL: cognitive problems, activities of daily living, physical functioning, mental wellbeing, and perceptions of one's daily life. We compared measures of QOL by cognitive performance, diagnosis awareness, and diagnostic group., Results: Persons with MCI or AD who were aware of their diagnosis reported lower average satisfaction with daily life (QOL-AD), basic functioning (BADL Scale), and physical wellbeing (SF-12 PCS), and more difficulties in daily life (DEM-QOL) than those who were unaware (all p ≤ .007). Controlling for gender, those expecting their condition to worsen over time reported greater depression (GDS), higher stress (PSS), lower quality of daily life (QOL-AD, DEM-QOL), and more cognitive difficulties (CDS) compared to others (all p < .05)., Discussion: Persons aware of their diagnostic label-either MCI or AD-and its prognosis report lower QOL than those unaware of these facts about themselves. These relationships are independent of the severity of cognitive impairment., (© The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Background and Objective: This observational study examined how awareness of diagnosis predicted changes in cognition and quality of life (QOL) 1 year later in older adults with normal cognition and dementia diagnoses. Research Design and Methods: Older adults (n = 259) with normal cognition, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), or mild stage Alzheimer's disease (AD) completed measures of diagnostic awareness, cognition, and multiple domains of QOL. We compared 1‐year change in cognition and QOL by diagnostic group and diagnostic awareness. Results: Patients who were unaware of their diagnosis at baseline showed average decreases in both satisfaction with daily life (QOL‐AD; paired mean difference (PMD) = −0.9, p < 0.05) and physical functioning (SF‐12 PCS; PMD = −2.5, p < 0.05). In contrast, patients aware of their diagnosis at baseline showed no statistically discernable changes in most QOL domains (all p > 0.05). Of patients aware of their diagnosis at baseline (n = 111), those who were still aware (n = 84) showed a decrease in mental functioning at follow up (n = 27; SF‐12 MCS). Change in MoCA scores in patients unaware of their diagnosis was similar to that in patients aware of their diagnosis, −1.4 points (95% CI −2.6 to −0.6) and −1.7 points (95% CI −2.4 to −1.1) respectively. Discussion and Implications: Awareness of one's diagnosis of MCI or AD, not the severity of cognitive impairment, may predict changes in patients' mental functioning, expectations of their memory, satisfaction with daily life, and physical functioning. The findings may help clinicians anticipate the types of threats to wellbeing that a patient might encounter and identify key domains for monitoring. Key points: Older adults aware of their diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) or mild cognitive impairment were more likely to expect their memory to worsen at baseline and continued to expect their memory to worsen at 1‐year follow‐up than those who were unaware of their diagnosis.From baseline to 1‐year, persons aware of their diagnosis experienced a decline in mental functioning. In contrast, those unaware of their diagnosis experienced decreases in satisfaction with daily life and physical functioning.We discuss our findings in terms of their applicability to help clinicians monitor patient wellbeing and whether they might extend to awareness of other AD diagnostic data beyond clinical diagnosis such as AD gene and biomarker test results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]