P4-14-05: Chemotherapy-Induced Alopecia, Body Image and Psychological Distress in Women with Breast Cancer: A Prospective Study.

Abstract

Abstract Purpose: While chemotherapy-induced alopecia (CIA) is known to be associated with lower quality of life, the longitudinal effect of alopecia on body image and distress in unknown. This study examined effect of CIA on body image and psychological distress during active breast cancer treatment. Patients and Methods Between July and Dec 2010, we recruited patients with non-metastatic breast cancer who were expected to receive adjuvant chemotherapy (N=411) from two cancer hospitals in Seoul, Korea. After excluding 15 patients with recurrence and 65 patients lost to follow-up, the present analysis is based on 331 patients (80.5%). Participants completed questionnaires on body image, quality of life, alopecia distress at enrollment (before surgery), before chemotherapy (2 weeks post surgery), during chemotherapy (3 months post surgery), and after chemotherapy (6 months post surgery). Body image and quality of life were assessed by the EORTC QoL Questionnaire BR23. Alopecia distress was assessed by the Alopecia Distress Scale, which evaluated distress in 4 domains: physical, emotional, daily activity, and relationship. Results: The mean age of the participants was 46.4 (SD 7.91) year. 44.9% and 37.6% of them had stage I and II breast cancer, respectively. 83.0% of the patients had lumpectomy, and 70.6% and 85.9% had chemotherapy and radiotherapy, respectively. Patients who experienced alopecia had a significantly more negative body image and higher distress compared to those who did not experience alopecia. Body image rapidly decreased at 3 months post surgery coinciding with alopecia, and its effects lasted until 6 months post surgery. Moreover, there was a highly statistically significant association between more negative body image and higher alopecia distress after adjusting for other socio-demographic and clinical characteristics. The patterns and changes in body image and distress comparing patients with and without alopecia are reported in Table 1. Discussion: Health professionals need to develop clinical pathways and education programs to help women with breast cancer manage alopecia distress and negative body image during active treatment. Citation Information: Cancer Res 2011;71(24 Suppl):Abstract nr P4-14-05.