Uncorrected Proof Int J Cancer Manag. 2023 December; 16(1):e123267. Published online 2023 March 7. https://doi.org/10.5812/ijcm-123267. Research Article The Role of Cognitive Dysfunction and Health Literacy on the Quality of Life in Cancer Survivors Fatemeh Keshmiri Nasrabadi 1 , Sussan Rahimzade 1, * and Mohammad Esmaeil Akbari 2 1 South Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran 2 Cancer Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran * Corresponding author: South Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran. Email: susan-r@azad.ac.ir Received 2022 July 09; Revised 2022 November 29; Accepted 2022 December 05. Abstract Background: Cancer disease is considered one of the basic health problems in the world, which threatens the health of human life. It causes numerous personal, family and social damages in physical, psychological, and social dimensions. Objectives: The present study aimed at investigating health literacy and cognitive dysfunction on the quality of life of cancer sur- vivors to make better decisions for the daily functioning, quality of life, and work capacity of cancer survivors so that their lives can be spent with more peace and less stress. Methods: With a descriptive correlational design, 350 cancer survivors of the Cancer Research Center of Shahid Beheshti Univer- sity of Medical Sciences (Shohaday Tajrish Hospital) from September to November 2021, who had been treated for at least one year, volunteered online and in person. Cognitive failure (Broadbent et al., 1982), cancer health literacy test (Dumenci et al., 2014), and quality of life of adults surviving cancer (Avis et al, 2005). Results: Pearson correlation showed a negative relationship between cognitive dysfunction and quality of life; so, path analysis showed that 25% of the quality of life is explained by cognitive dysfunction, but cancer health literacy was not correlated with the quality of life of cancer survivors. Conclusions: According to the findings, the optimization of cognitive functions after treatment was emphasized to increase the quality of life of cancer survivors. Keywords: Health Literacy, Cognitive Dysfunction, Quality of Life, Cancer Survivors 1. Background Cancer is a major health problem and one of the lead- ing causes of death worldwide. By 2020, 10 million peo- ple will be victims and it is predicted that 19.3 million new cases will be identified, and by 2040, the incidence of can- cer will increase by 47% (1). From the end of the 20th cen- tury, the death rate from cancer in 2018 has decreased by 31%. In the United States in 2021, out of 1.2 million new cases of cancer, 1.2 million have survived (2). In Iran, 131 000 peo- ple have been diagnosed with cancer, of whom 79 000 have died of cancer and 52 000 have survived (3). The number of cancer survivors seems to have increased due to the con- tinuous improvement in screening and treatment. Despite these improvements, many of them suffer from therapeu- tic side effects. There are 3 types of complications, includ- ing acute (occurring during treatment and lasting for a short time), chronic (occurring during treatment, lasting months and years), and delayed (occurring months, even years after treatment). Cancer treatment includes surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, hormone therapy, or a combination of these methods. These therapies have many physical and psychological side effects that reduce the abil- ities and activities of the patient’s daily life (4). The most important side effects are psychological problems such as stress, anxiety, depression, fear of recurrence, cognitive problems, sleep and sex; physiological problems such as hair loss, appearance and body image concerns, pain, fa- tigue, nausea, difficulty breathing, vomiting; social prob- lems such as social isolation, loss of social role and perfor- mance, intellectual concerns about the family, and finan- cial problems (5-7) have all been pointed out, which ulti- mately worsen the quality of life (8). According to the World Health Organization (WHO), quality of life is a person’s perception of his or her posi- tion in life in terms of culture, the value system in which he or she lives, and goals, expectations, standards, and pri- orities. So, it is a completely subjective issue and is based on people’s understanding of different aspects of life. In Copyright © 2023, Author(s). This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits copy and redistribute the material just in noncommercial usages, provided the original work is properly cited.