Abstract
BackgroundMeasuring the quality of life (QoL) of women with breast cancer is an important aspect of measuring treatment success. In Croatia, no QoL studies have been carried out with a focus on patients after mastectomy. The aim of this study was to examine QoL 1 month and 1 year after mastectomy.MethodsThis cross-sectional single-center study of quality of life was conducted in 101 patients, 50 of whom had undergone a mastectomy 1 month prior, and 51 of whom had undergone a mastectomy 1 year prior. The study was conducted from July 2015 to June 2016. The questionnaires used in the study were developed by the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC). The questionnaire EORTC QLQ-C30 assesses the QoL of cancer patients, and the questionnaire EORTC QLQ-BR23 is a disease-specific breast cancer module. A chi square test, Fisher’s exact test, Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, Student’s t-test and Mann-Whitney U test were performed in the statistical analysis using the statistical program SPSS (Inc. Released 2008. SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 17.0. Chicago: SPSS Inc.).ResultsPatients who had undergone a mastectomy a year earlier placed a higher value on their health state than did those who had undergone a mastectomy a month earlier. The most affected values of functional status on the EORTC QLQ-C30 scale were emotional functioning (37.5 [95% CI 33.3–61.6]) and sexual functioning (16.67 [95% CI 0–33.3]) 1 month and 1 year after mastectomy, respectively. The most affected symptoms on the EORTC QLQ-C30 scale were hair loss 66.67 [95% CI 33.3–100]) and fatigue 33.33 [95% CI 24–44]) 1 month and 1 year after mastectomy, respectively.ConclusionIn our study, both functional and symptom scales were more affected in women 1 month after mastectomy. QoL was considerably improved in women 1 year after the surgery compared to 1 month after mastectomy. The results of this study could contribute to the public awareness of the QoL of breast cancer patients.
Highlights
Measuring the quality of life (QoL) of women with breast cancer is an important aspect of measuring treatment success
Results for the EORTC QLQ-BR23 questionnaire The QoL evaluated by the disease-specific scale QLQBR23 showed no significant differences between the two groups regarding body image functioning (62,5 [95% CI 33,3-77,1] vs. 66,67 [95% CI 66,6-83,1] 1 month and 1 year after mastectomy, respectively) and anxiety over hair loss (66,67 [95% CI 33,3–100] vs. 33,33 [95% CI 11,1-33,3] 1 month and 1 year after mastectomy, respectively); these were the most affected items on the functional scale and the symptom scale, respectively
There is a certain overlap between the two questionnaires, the EORTC QLQ-C30 focuses on the general QoL of cancer patients, while the questionnaire EORTC QLQ-BR23 is a disease-specific module for breast cancer and, is more focused on the disease-specific factors that contribute to QoL
Summary
Measuring the quality of life (QoL) of women with breast cancer is an important aspect of measuring treatment success. As well as in Croatia, the number of cases of breast cancer has been increasing since the beginning of data collection on malignant diseases. For the period between 2009 and 2010, the data for Osijek-Baranya County are slightly higher than the Croatian average: 118 cases per 100.000 women per year [3]. The average life expectancy for women with breast cancer has risen significantly due to early diagnosis and new cancer treatments [4]. Due to the increased survival of breast cancer patients, the impact of therapy on their quality of life (QoL) has become an important public health issue [6]. A study by Murgic et al [8] has assessed the QoL in breast cancer patients in Croatia, comparing the QoL scores of patients receiving adjuvant treatment (adjuvant radiotherapy and adjuvant chemotherapy) with the QoL scores long-term breast cancer survivors
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