Abstract

IntroductionsFor young premenopausal breast cancer patients, adjuvant chemotherapy may cause menstrual disruptions and premature menopause, which may in turn impair their quality of life (QoL). In this study among young breast cancer survivors who have undergone adjuvant chemotherapy, the objectives were to assess post-treatment menopausal symptoms and their associated factors, and to correlate these symptoms with breast cancer-specific QoL.MethodsThe study population included premenopausal young Chinese women with early-stage breast cancer who had undergone adjuvant chemotherapy between 3 and 10 years prior to enrolling into this study. At study entry, patients’ characteristics and clinical features were collected; each patient had detail menstrual history collected and each filled in MENQOL and FACT-B + 4 questionnaires.ResultsTwo hundred eighty eligible patients were recruited. For adjuvant chemotherapy, 92% received anthracyclines and 28% received taxanes; 76% received adjuvant tamoxifen. At a median of 5.0 years from initial cancer diagnosis, 49 and 11% had become post- and peri-menopausal respectively. MENQOL at study entry revealed that physical domain score was worse in overweight/obese patients (mean scores for underweight/normal vs overweight/obese: 2.65 vs 2.97, p = 0.0162). Vasomotor domain score was worse in those who received taxanes or tamoxifen (taxane vs non-taxane: 2.91 vs. 2.35, p = 0.0140; tamoxifen vs no tamoxifen: 2.75 vs. 2.34, p = 0.0479). Sexual domain score was worse among those who had become peri/post-menopausal (peri/postmenopausal vs premenopausal: 2.82 vs. 2.29, p = 0.0229). On the other hand, patients who utilized traditional Chinese medicine had significantly worse scores for vasomotor, psychosocial and physical domains. Further, there was a significant association between MENQOL scores and FACT-B + 4 scores; less severe symptoms in the MENQOL domains were associated with better QoL scores in FACT-B + 4 physical, functional, psychosocial and emotional well-being, Breast Cancer Subscale, Arm Subscale and FACT-B total score.ConclusionAmong premenopausal breast cancer women who had undergone adjuvant chemotherapy, those who had received taxanes or tamoxifen, were overweight/obese and utilized traditional Chinese medicine had more severe menopausal symptoms. Patients who experienced worse menopausal symptoms were found to have worse breast cancer-specific QoL. Interventional studies with an aim to alleviate menopausal symptoms are warranted to assess if overall QoL of these patients could be improved.Trial registrationNot applicable.

Highlights

  • Breast cancer is one of the most common female malignancies

  • Interventional studies with an aim to alleviate menopausal symptoms are warranted to assess if overall quality of life (QoL) of these patients could be improved

  • Patients filled in self-administered questionnaires to assess their menopausal-specific as well as breast cancer-specific QoL using Menopause-Specific Quality of Life Questionnaire (MENQOL) and Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy–Breast (FACT-B + 4) questionnaires respectively

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Summary

Introduction

Breast cancer is one of the most common female malignancies. In many parts of Asia, there has been an increasing trend in the incidence of breast cancer. The most recent data from the Hong Kong Cancer Registry have reported that more than 80% of newly diagnosed breast cancer patients have early stage disease [1]. Treatments for patients with early-stage breast cancer have curative intent. These mainly involve surgery followed by post-operative adjuvant therapies that may include chemotherapy, radiotherapy, endocrine therapy and/or targeted therapy. Less than 15% of patients were reported to be diagnosed before age 40 [2], a higher proportion of these patients were subjected to adjuvant cytotoxic therapy [2]

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