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Physical and emotional impairments are common are often left untreated in cancer survivors, a new report claims.

Dr. Julie Silver, an associate professor at Harvard Medical School and her team found that most cancer survivors have treatment-caused physical and psychological impairments that often result in disability as they are often undetected or untreated.

The latest statistics shows that more than four in ten people will develop cancer during their lifetime.  However, because of medical advances in diagnosis, treatment and supportive care for cancer, researchers say more than two out of three cancer patients now live at least five years after their diagnosis. Experts at the American Cancer Society predict that the number of cancer survivors in the U.S. will rise from 13.6 million to 18 million by 2022.  Researchers said that the growing number of cancer survivors means that there is an increasing need to address the long-term effects of cancer and its treatment.

The report published in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, reveals that cancer survivors report significantly worse health-related quality of life for both physical and emotional health compared with population norms.  Researchers found that one in four cancer survivors report poor physical health compared to about one in ten of those without a history of cancer.  The study also found that 10 percent of cancer survivors report poor mental health compared to 6 percent of adults without a cancer diagnosis. 

Researchers say the latest findings suggest that 3.3 million cancer survivors in the U.S. may have poor physical health and 1.4 million may have poor mental health.

Besides rehabilitation after cancer therapy, researchers recommend "prehabilitation" at the time of diagnosis to improve both physical and emotional health before cancer therapy so that people tolerate treatments with fewer problems.

Silver and her team say that it is imperative that cancer survivors be screened for both psychological and physical impairments.  In order to ensure all cancer patients have their rehabilitation needs met, everyone involved throughout their care including oncologists, mental health professionals, nurses and primary care physicians, should know the proper screening questions, tools and procedures. 

Not only will impairment-driven cancer rehabilitation improve the lives of cancer patients, researchers say it is also cost-effective because it could actually reduce both direct and indirect health care costs.

"Delivering quality, patient-centered care requires that all cancer patients and survivors be screened for psychological and physical impairments throughout the care continuum in order to preserve and/or improve their functioning and quality of life," researchers concluded.