Abstract
To assess fatigue and quality of life in disease-free breast cancer survivors in relation to a sample of age-matched women with no cancer history and to explore the relationship between fatigue and quality of life. A cross-sectional study was conducted in a sample of 202 consecutive disease-free Brazilian breast cancer survivors, all of whom had completed treatment, treated at 2 large hospitals. The patients were compared to age-matched women with no cancer history attending a primary health care center. The Piper Fatigue Scale-Revised and the World Health Organization Quality of Life Instrument (WHOQOL-BREF) were used to measure the fatigue and quality of life, respectively. Socio-demographic and clinical variables were also obtained. The χ2 test, generalized linear model, and Spearman correlation coefficient were used for statistical purposes. The adopted level of significance was 5%. Breast cancer survivors experienced significantly greater total and subscale fatigue scores than comparison group (all p-values<0.05). In addition, survivors reported a poorer quality of life in physical (p=0.002), psychological (p=0.03), and social relationships (p=0.03) domains than comparison group. No difference was found for the environmental domain (p=0.08) for both groups. For survivors of breast cancer and for comparison group, the total and subscale fatigue scores were related to lower quality of life (all p-values<0.01). The findings of this study highlight the importance of assessing fatigue and quality of life in breast cancer survivors.
Highlights
Breast cancer rates are generally increasing[1], and it is estimated that more than 1.68 million women were diagnosed with breast cancer in 2012 worldwide[2]
The comparison group ranged in age from 32 to 86 years old
Comparisons between the two groups displayed significant differences for educational level (p=0.003), which was greater in the comparison group, and the percentage of partnered women, which was increased in breast cancer survivors compared with the women with no cancer his‐ tory (p
Summary
Breast cancer rates are generally increasing[1], and it is estimated that more than 1.68 million women were diagnosed with breast cancer in 2012 worldwide[2]. In the United States, it was estimated that there were approximately 14.5 million cancer survivors in January 2014, and the most common cancer represented sites include female breast (22%)[4]. Fatigue has been documented as one of the most distressing symptoms reported by breast cancer survivors[7]. Despite the high prevalence of fatigue in cancer patients and the fact that the majority of these patients report fatigue as a major obstacle in daily activities and quality of life, this symptom is seldom assessed and treated[8]
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