1. 84 Breast Cancer patients
Table 1
Predictors of Quality of Life Six Months into Treatment for Breast Cancer
N.Tran1, N. Albrecht1, J. R. Osuch1, L.L. Symonds1 , B. Giordani2 , A.J. Blow1, P.S. Haan1, M. J. Boivin1,2
1Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI; 2University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
INTRODUCTION
CONCLUSIONS
Estimated breast cancer incidence (2010) = 207,090 and mortality = 39,8401
Breast cancer is a disease of the whole person (existentially, socially, emotionally, cognitively, and physiologically)
Anxiety, depression and spirituality have been reported as predictors of quality of life (QoL)234
The present study investigates importance of baseline predictive measures of psychological, emotional, spiritual well-being and cognitive performance on QoL six months into treatment of women diagnosed with breast cancer.
METHODS
Overall QoL six months after diagnosis was significantly predicted by better social support, less distress, greater age, and stronger self rating on cognitive performance on a set of computerized memory and learning tasks.
Younger breast cancer patients and those with higher levels of distress following diagnosis have significantly poorer QoL within six months of diagnosis, especially those receiving chemotherapy.
Social support and spiritual well-being may be important modifiers of this relationship and should be considered in guiding the interventions that can help sustain QoL the treatment and recovery phases.
Outcome Measures:
Hope Quality of Life Subscale Scores measuring
Physical well-being
Psychological well-being
Social concerns
Spiritual well-being
Statistics:
Multiple regression analysis to assess the relationship between baseline predictor assessments (demographic factors, treatment factors, and self- report instruments) following diagnosis and QoL outcome measures 6 months after diagnosis
METHODS
RESULTS
Participants
84 Breast Cancer patients
32 chemotherapy
52 non-chemotherapy
69 Benign controls
FUTURE ANALYSES
Evaluation of the study participants using similar measures and outcomes to evaluate changes over time.
Instruments:
Questionnaire format administered by computer
Questions pertaining to social support, depression, spirituality, anxiety, distress, sleep, and cognitive state
Bottomley Cancer Social Support Scale (BSS)
Patient Health Questionnaire – 9 (PHQ-9)
Spiritual Involvement and Beliefs Scale (SIBS)
State-Trait Anxiety Inventory – Short Version (STAI Short)
National Comprehensive Cancer Network Distress Management Screening Measure (NCCN-DMSM)
Quality of Sleep scale
Self-rating of cognitive performance (CogState Metacognitive Performance Scale)
Assessment 1 (Baseline) - breast cancer patients have received diagnosis and surgery but have not yet received adjuvant therapy.
Assessment 2 - four months after diagnosis (patients treated with or without chemotherapy)
Values in table represent significant P-values
REFERENCES
SEER Cancer Statistics Review, , National Cancer Institute. Bethesda, MD, based on November 2009 SEER data submission, posted to the SEER web site, 2010.
Schreier, A.M. and Williams, S.A. (2004). Anxiety and quality of life of women who receive radiation or chemotherapy for breast cancer. Oncology Nursing Forum, 31;
Sawatzky, R., Ratner, P.A., Chiu, L. (2005). A meta-analysis of the relationship between spirituality and quality of life. Social Indicators Research, 72;
Burgess, C., Cornelius, V., Love, S., Graham, J., Richards, M., Ramirez, A. (2005). Depression and anxiety in women with early breast cancer: five year observational cohort study. BMJ; 1-4.
Six months following diagnosis:
Having a diagnosis of breast cancer and undergoing chemotherapy predicted lower overall QoL, and within QoL subdomains with lower Physical Qol, Social Support QoL, but higher Spiritual Quality of Life
Having breast cancer, but not receiving chemotherapy as compared to having a benign diagnosis predicted lower physical quality of life and social quality of life, and, again, higher spiritual quality of life
Other important predictors for specific aspects of QoL included age, available social support, feelings of distress, spiritual beliefs, and perceptions about cognitive performance.
YOU COULD CONSIDER SAYING MORE ABOUT THESE PREDICTORS, HERE, OR LEAVE AS IS AND LET PEOPLE REFER TO THE TABLE.
Michigan State University Breast Cancer Spirituality, Emotional Well-being and Quality of Life (SEQL) Research Project.
Michigan State University1
Departments of Surgery, Epidemiology, Psychiatry, Family and Child Ecology, Radiology, and Neurology and the
Biomedical Research Informatics Center
University of Michigan2:
Department of Psychiatry
This research was funded by the McIlnay Summer Scholarship Fund for Cancer Research of the College of Human Medicine at Michigan State University and by theTempleton Advanced Research Program, sponsored by the Metanexus Institute on Religion and Science, with the generous support of the John Templeton Foundation ( The funding sources had no role in study design, data collection, analysis or interpretation. The presenters have no conflict of interest to disclose. Send correspondence to: