Abstract
BackgroundThe quality of life for breast cancer survivors has become increasingly important because of their high survival rate and prolonged life expectancy. The purpose of this study was to examine the association of physical activity following diagnosis and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in breast cancer survivors.MethodsWe conducted a cross-sectional study of breast cancer survivors. A total of 231 women aged 21–78 years who had been diagnosed with stages I to III breast cancer and had breast cancer surgery at least 6 months prior were recruited from three hospitals between September 2012 and April 2015 and were included in this study. We asked participants about their HRQOL and engagement in physical activity using structured questionnaires. We examined the association between HRQOL levels and physical activity using a generalized linear model.ResultsBreast cancer survivors in the high physical activity group (3rd tertile) were more likely to have lower scores for fatigue (p for trend = 0.001) and pain (p for trend = 0.02) and higher scores for sexual function (p for trend = 0.007) than those in the low physical activity group (1st tertile). When we stratified participants by stage, we found increasing scores for physical functioning (p for trend =0.01) and decreasing scores for fatigue (p for trend = 0.02) with increasing levels of physical activity in breast cancer survivors with stage I breast cancer. In survivors with stages II and III, we found statistically significant associations with fatigue (p for trend = 0.02) and sexual functioning (p for trend = 0.001).ConclusionsIn conclusion, engagement in physical activity was related to better health-related quality of life among breast cancer survivors. Our findings may warrant further prospective and intervention studies to support the benefit of physical activity in improving the quality of life and survival of Korean breast cancer survivors.
Highlights
The quality of life for breast cancer survivors has become increasingly important because of their high survival rate and prolonged life expectancy
Given that research concerning the psychosocial and physical health among breast cancer survivors is important [22], we aimed to examine the association of physical activity following diagnosis and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in breast cancer survivors
Breast cancer survivors of our study had average of 33.66 metabolic equivalent (MET)-hours per week
Summary
The quality of life for breast cancer survivors has become increasingly important because of their high survival rate and prolonged life expectancy. Women with breast cancer who received adjuvant chemotherapy tend to experience persistent physical symptoms of cancer and treatment including fatigue [3, 4], pain or sensations in the arm or breast [5], hormone-related symptoms [6, 7], and sexual dysfunction [6, 8]. These symptoms can last for months to even years after completion of cancer treatment and have an adverse effect on their HRQOL [9, 10].
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