Associated Factors for Health Quality of Life in Moroccan Women With Breast Cancers

Abstract

Background: Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women. Breast cancer is ranked the first female cancer (33.4%) in Morocco; and more than 60% cases are diagnosed at stage III or IV. During the last decade, health-related quality of life (HRQOL) has become an important part of breast cancer treatment. Aim: The objective of this study is to describe self- reported HRQOL in patients with breast cancer and to investigate its associations with socio-demographic and clinical variables. Methods: A prospective study was carried out in the main oncology centers in Morocco. Quality of life was measured using the Moroccan Arabic version of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire C 30 (EORTC QLQ C30) and Breast Cancer-Specific Quality of Life Questionnaire (EORTC QLQ-BR23). Statistical data analyses were performed using descriptive statistics and multivariate analyses. Results: A total of 1463 subjects were included in the study. The subjects' mean age was 55.6 (SD. 11.2) years, 70% were married. The majority of the subjects had stage II (45.9%) and the few cases had stage IV (12.9%). Participants had a mean score for global health of 68.5. Among functional scales, social functioning scored the highest (mean 86.2, SD = 22.7). The most distressing symptom on the symptom scales was financial difficulties (mean 63.2, SD = 38.2). Using the disease-specific tool, it was found that future perspective scored the lowest (mean 40.5, SD = 37.3). On the symptom scale, arm symptoms scored the highest (mean 23.6, SD = 21.6). Significant mean differences were noted for many functional and symptom scales. Conclusion: Our results emphasize that the general HRQOL of the studied women is fairer than that of the corresponding population in other countries. This study provided baseline information on the quality of life of a large sample of Moroccan women diagnosed with breast cancer.