Pilot study: Retreat intervention predicts improved quality of life and reduced psychological distress among breast cancer patients

Background. Breast cancer patients receiving adjuvant chemotherapy often experience a loss of quality of life. Moreover chemotherapy may induce neutropenia. Patients report a better quality of life when additionally treated with mistletoe products during chemotherapy.Methods. In this prospective randomized open-label pilot study 95 patients were randomized into three groups. All patients were treated with an adjuvant chemotherapy. The primary objective of the study was quality of life, the secondary objective was neutropenia. Here we report the comparison of HxA (n= 34) versus untreated control (n= 31).Results. In the explorative analysis ten of 15 scores of the EORTC QLQ-C30 showed a better quality of life in the HxA group compared to the control group (P<0.001toP=0.038in Dunnett-T3 test). The difference was clinically relevant (difference of at least 5 points, range 5.4–12.2) in eight of the ten scores. Neutropenia occurred in 7/34 HxA patients and in 8/31 control patients (P= 0.628).Conclusions. This pilot study showed an improvement of quality of life by treating breast cancer patients with HxA additionally to CAF. Although the open design may be a limitation, the findings show the feasibility of a confirmatory study using the methods described here.

Download Full-text

The Impact of Socioeconomic Status on the Psychological Distress of Breast Cancer Patients in Kolkata"

Financial Statistical Journal ◽

10.24294/fsj.v1i3.609 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 1 (3) ◽

Author(s):

Arunima Datta ◽

Rimi Sharma

Keyword(s):

Breast Cancer ◽

Quality Of Life ◽

Socioeconomic Status ◽

Psychological Distress ◽

Marital Status ◽

Cancer Patients ◽

Family Income ◽

Psychological Symptoms ◽

Breast Cancer Patients

Background: Breast cancer patients experience a variety of psychological symptoms such as anxiety, depression that affect their quality of life. The present study probed whether the socioeconomic status had any significance on psychological distress and quality of life of breast cancer patients in India. Method: This was a cross-sectional and observational study, conducted over 111 breast cancer patients in a tertiary cancer hospital, Kolkata. Subjects were eligible to participate and they were of over 23rd years of age and had a histologically confirmed diagnosis of breast cancer had no history of recurrence or metastasis, and had no previous psychological problems. Age, marital status, residence, education, occupation and family income were assesses for patients’ socio economic status. Psychological symptoms and quality of life were assessed by using validated tools. Means and standard deviations of each outcome were compared by socioeconomic status and multivariate linear regression models for evaluating the association between socioeconomic status, psychological distress and quality of lifeResults: The patient group was categorized into three groups based on their income level as follows: ≤500=27.9%), 500-1000=51.4% and high income = ≥1000=20.7%. A total of 111 breast cancer patients participated in the study; the mean age of participants was 49.7 (SE=1.31). After using multivariate logistic regression with fully adjusted models, the patients who were living alone had significantly higher level of depression and poor quality of life compared to those who are employed. Higher education and family income both positively associated with quality of life after adjusting for age, marital status and occupation. Conclusion: The findings revealed that the family income have a significant impact on the psychological distress of the cancer patients.

Download Full-text