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Trajectories of health-related quality of life in breast cancer patients

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to explore the trajectory of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and its predictors in breast cancer patients.

Methods

A total of 126 women with newly diagnosed breast cancer provided baseline sociodemographic and medical characteristics and then completed an HRQoL questionnaire along with self-report measures of anxiety, depression, and cancer-related fatigue prior to their first cycle of chemotherapy (baseline), after chemotherapy completion, and at 6, and 12 months after chemotherapy completion. Group-based trajectory models were constructed to identify HRQoL trajectories over time. Logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate predictors of HRQoL in distinct patient groups.

Results

Group-based trajectory modeling classified two patient groups: participants with consistently medium overall HRQoL trajectories (41.1%) and participants with consistently low overall HRQoL trajectories (58.9%). Older age, perceived severe economic burden, and higher depression predicted consistently low overall HRQoL through 12 months after chemotherapy.

Conclusions

Less than half of the total number of patients maintained a medium level of overall HRQoL after diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer, and nearly 60% continued to have lower overall HRQoL even after the treatment was complete. Older participants with more severe economic burden and higher depression experienced lower and more persistent overall HRQoL; thus, these patients should be monitored and provided supportive care as a part of survivorship care.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the study participants for their time and dedication to this study. We also thank the staff at the Breast Cancer Center, Ajou University Medical Center, Suwon, Republic of Korea, for their cooperation.

Funding

This research was supported by Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education (NRF-2015R1D1A1A01061101).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Nursing·Research Institute of Nursing Science, Ajou University, Suwon, Republic of Korea

    Jin-Hee Park & Sun Hyoung Bae

  2. Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, Ajou University, Suwon, Republic of Korea

    Yong Sik Jung & Ji Young Kim

  3. College of Nursing, Ajou University, Suwon, Republic of Korea

    Yujung Jo

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  1. Jin-Hee Park
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Correspondence to Sun Hyoung Bae.

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Park, JH., Jung, Y.S., Kim, J.Y. et al. Trajectories of health-related quality of life in breast cancer patients. Support Care Cancer 28, 3381–3389 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-019-05184-3

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