Asbestos exposure can cause cancer to develop in anyone, regardless of their overall health. Although mesothelioma strikes healthy and unhealthy people alike, healthy people tend to live longer with the disease.
Certain factors can shorten life expectancy, including a sedentary lifestyle, poor diet, mental health conditions and weak social connections. Exposure to toxins like cigarette smoke, radon and asbestos can also affect a person’s life expectancy.
Oncologists determine a person’s overall health using a scoring system called performance status. It basically assesses the ability to perform physical activities and basic self-care. Doctors use various scoring systems to grade performance status.
The Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) developed one popular grading system called the ECOG Scale of Performance Status. The scale ranges from zero to five, with zero representing a fully active person. Ascending numbers represent increasing disability.
People with low ECOG performance scores, indicating better overall health, tend to live longer with mesothelioma than people with high scores. A comprehensive study conducted in the late 1980s and ’90s reported overall survival of 11 months for people with a performance score of zero, 7.6 months for a score of 1 and 3.3 months for a score of 3.
Taking good care of your health by eating well and staying active when possible can help people recover quicker from cancer treatments like surgery and chemotherapy.
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