The impact of health symptoms on health-related quality of life in early-stage breast cancer survivors

Abstract

PurposeIn breast cancer patients, treatment-related health symptoms can occur that may affect their health-related quality of life (HRQoL). This study aimed to determine the impact of health symptoms on HRQoL in breast cancer patients up to 5 years after diagnosis.MethodsFemales surgically treated for early-stage breast cancer diagnosed between 2012 and 2016 (n = 876) were selected from the Netherlands Cancer Registry and invited for a survey about current health symptoms (‘Symptoms and Perceptions questionnaire’, SaP) and HRQoL (‘EORTC-QLQ-C30’). From the latter, functioning and global health were included. Mean scores were compared to norm population scores (T test). Multivariable linear regression analyses were performed to determine the association between health symptoms and global health and functioning.Results404 patients (46%) responded. The median age was 62.2 ± 10.9 years. Respondents had significantly lower mean scores for role, cognitive, emotional, and social functioning than the general population. The most frequently reported health symptoms were musculoskeletal (including pain/complaints in lower/upper extremities/back/neck; 71%) and central nervous system symptoms (including concentration impairment, dizziness, neuralgia; 66%), and fatigue (63%). While most symptoms affected functioning, irrespective of time since diagnosis, especially fatigue, musculoskeletal, central nervous system, and gastrointestinal symptoms were significantly associated (p < 0.05) with lower functioning.ConclusionsThe majority of health symptoms that occur after breast cancer treatment were associated with lower functioning of patients in daily life. This paper urges healthcare providers to support breast cancer patients in alleviating or coping with health symptoms, even years after end of treatment, to improve their functioning.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s10549-019-05433-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Reduced symptom burden with the support of an interactive app during neoadjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer – A randomized controlled trial

“…An explanation could be, that symptoms are more relevant to assess during the ongoing treatment, since they occur rather instant in relation to the treatment [ 39 , 40 ]. Functional impairments are more prominent post-treatment, as consequences of remaining symptom burden [ 41 , 42 ]. Although the intervention resulted in few effects on HRQoL, it is important to recognize the clinical benefits reduced symptom burden has for the patients.…”

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