Quality of Life of Breast Cancer Survivors After a Recurrence: A Follow-Up Study

2004 ◽  
Vol 87 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sindy Oh ◽  
Lara Heflin ◽  
Beth E. Meyerowitz ◽  
Katherine A. Desmond ◽  
Julia H. Rowland ◽  
...  
2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie R. Denkhoff ◽  
Dongyan Yang ◽  
Christina M. Pinkston ◽  
Richard N. Baumgartner ◽  
Kathy B. Baumgartner

2013 ◽  
Vol 23 (9) ◽  
pp. 582-583
Author(s):  
A.E. Connor ◽  
R.N. Baumgartner ◽  
S.D. Boone ◽  
C.M. Pinkston ◽  
K.B. Baumgartner

2015 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-124 ◽  
Author(s):  
Avonne E. Connor ◽  
Richard N. Baumgartner ◽  
Christina M. Pinkston ◽  
Stephanie D. Boone ◽  
Kathy B. Baumgartner

2016 ◽  
Vol 26 (6) ◽  
pp. 822-828 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allyson D. Diggins ◽  
Lauren E. Hearn ◽  
Suzanne C. Lechner ◽  
Debra Annane ◽  
Michael H. Antoni ◽  
...  

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement 2) ◽  
pp. 100s-100s
Author(s):  
N. Kaur ◽  
A. Gupta ◽  
A.K. Sharma

Background: Cancer survivorship is an unremitting struggle for breast cancer patients, as the consequence of complex treatment processes and its multitude of residual and late emerging side effects, have a significant impact on their quality of life (QOL). Unique issues of survivorship include those related to physical, psychological, social, and spiritual well-being of women. Amid a growing population of breast cancer survivors (BCs) worldwide, supportive care research is assuming greater importance in breast cancer care. Focus of survivorship research is to identify issues impacting QOL of the cancer survivors so that supportive care services can be tailored to their specific needs. Role of individual survivor's issues have been widely reported but a comprehensive picture is lacking. Aim: This study was conducted with the aim to identify important survivorship issues adversely affecting QOL of women after breast cancer treatment. Main objectives were to (1) estimate prevalence of various survivorship issues (2) assess QOL of survivors by using FACT-B and SF-36 questionnaires (3) study impact of time elapsed since treatment on survivorship issues and QOL scores (4) identify most important issues from the perspective of impact on QOL. Methods: This descriptive, hospital based, cross sectional study was conducted in 230 breast cancer survivors and a group of 112 healthy age-matched-controls, in an academic healthcare setting in northern India. A checklist of 14 commonly reported survivorship issues, and questionnaires for QOL assessment were administered to participants. Main outcome measures were (1) frequencies of survivorship issues and QOL scores among three groups divided on the basis of time elapsed since treatment (< 2 year follow-up, 2-5 year follow-up and > 5 year follow-up) (2) association of survivorship issues with QOL scores (3) stepwise regression analysis to identify issues with most significant impact on QOL of survivors. Results: Breast cancer survivors showed an improvement in their QOL over time which was sustained in long term survivors. However their quality of life remains poorer, compared with healthy women, irrespective of the duration of follow-up. The most prevalent survivorship issues were fatigue (60%), restriction of shoulder movement (59.6%), body and joint pain (63.5%), chemotherapy induced cessation of menstruation (73.3%) and loss of sexual desire (60%). However the issues which had maximum adverse effect on QOL scores were emotional distress, fatigue, postmastectomy chronic pain, cessation of menstruation, body and joint pain, vaginal dryness and sleep disturbances. Conclusion: Thus in this study, emotional distress and cancer related fatigue were found to be the chief determinants of poor QOL. Further premature menopause, with its attendant systemic symptoms, vulvo-vaginal atrophy and sexual dysfunction emerged as a key contributor to poor QOL in BCs.


1998 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 487-494 ◽  
Author(s):  
M Dorval ◽  
E Maunsell ◽  
L Deschênes ◽  
J Brisson ◽  
B Mâsse

PURPOSE Quality of life of breast cancer survivors 8 years after diagnosis was compared with that among similarly aged women who had never confronted cancer (controls). METHODS Survivors of a consecutive series of 227 breast cancer patients first treated in 1984 were approached for this study. Random-digit dialing was used to identify controls with the same age and residential distribution as the survivors. Quality of life was assessed in terms of physical health, functional status, psychologic distress, and social functioning. RESULTS Participation was obtained from 96% (n = 124) of 129 eligible survivors and 61% (n = 262) of 427 potentially eligible controls. Consistently smaller proportions of survivors reported positive quality-of-life outcomes compared with controls, but these differences were generally small and nonsignificant statistically. When limited to women who remained free of disease over the entire follow-up period (n = 98), survivors' quality of life was similar to that among controls, with the exception of arm problems and sexual satisfaction for those women who lived with a partner. In contrast, survivors who developed recurrence or new primary breast cancer (n = 26) experienced a worse quality of life in all domains except social functioning. CONCLUSION In most domains and for women without further disease events after diagnosis, quality of life does not seem to be permanently and globally impaired by breast cancer. Consequently, breast cancer survivors who remain free of disease probably do not need organized late psychosocial follow-up to improve quality of life. However, arm problems and sexuality are two areas in which additional effort may be still needed to improve quality of life of long-term survivors.


2003 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 153-168 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alice Gaudine ◽  
Marilyn Sturge-Jacobs ◽  
Mary Kennedy

Much research exists on quality of life issues with breast cancer survivors. However, there has been little done on the waiting experience itself, and on the experience of follow-up from the women’s perspective. Women who have been diagnosed and treated for breast cancer live with the condition for a minimum of 5 years, waiting for the next medical intervention; waiting for the next battery of tests; waiting for the next physician check-up. Throughout most of these years they may feel healthy, but they experience visits to cancer clinics, medical testing, and physician interactions. Women’s accounts of their experiences of waiting and life during follow-up for breast cancer has not been the focus of research on the quality of life of breast cancer survivors. In particular research that uses a qualitative approach, in which women recount their experiences in their own language, has been missing. This study used a phenomenological approach, telling the stories of waiting and life throughout follow-up of nine women. The women’s experiences are captured in four themes: life-changing; a sense of belonging; uncertainty; needing to know.


2013 ◽  
Vol 206 (5) ◽  
pp. 625-631 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie Catherine Lee ◽  
Rajendra S. Bhati ◽  
Edina E. von Rottenthaler ◽  
Angela M. Reagan ◽  
Sloan B. Karver ◽  
...  

2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 58-63
Author(s):  
Han Cheol Jo ◽  
Eui Tae Kim ◽  
Jun Won Min

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