Quality of Life of Bulgarian Breast Cancer Female Patients
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3889/oamjms.2021.6665Keywords:
Breast cancer, Quality of life, Upper limb lymphedema, BulgariaAbstract
BACKGROUND: During recent years, breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer and the leading cause of cancer death in females worldwide and in Bulgaria as well. The issues of satisfactory individual quality of life (QoL) after treatment represent undoubted interest and contribute to the elaboration and implementation of specific assessment questionnaires and scales.
AIM: The objective of the present study was to assess some aspects of the QoL in female patients with breast cancer following successful disease management.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: We examined a total of 57 female breast cancer patients operated on between 2018 and 2020 at a mean age of 47.89 ± 6.71 years (range, 30–59 years). They filled in the upper limb lymphoedema QoL questionnaire containing 27 items.
RESULTS: There was a significant prevalence of the ductal carcinoma and nonspecific invasive carcinoma, of the luminal B- human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER2) positive and luminal B-HER2 negative breast cancer as well as of grade two of differentiation. The responses with “not at all” dominated concerning the domains of “activities of daily living” and “health-related complaints. There was a great variety of the frequency of different patient’s responses to one and the same question when all 27 questions of all 57 patients were assessed as a whole. There was only one response with suffering “a lot” given to all the four items dealing with health-related complaints. The response with “a little” inclination dominated concerning the psychological dimension. The responses with “a lot” disturbance in terms of three items (“in your emotional life with your partner”, “look at yourself in a mirror” and “in your professional relationships”) considerably prevailed indicating the pronounced unfavourable influence on these patients’ quality of social life exerted by the breast cancer.
CONCLUSION: Breast cancer moderately affects individual patient’s QoL following successful treatment. Future research using additional specific questionnaires and focusing on the emotional and social aspects of the QoL could contribute to the improvement of patient’s life characteristics.
Downloads
Metrics
Plum Analytics Artifact Widget Block
References
Bray F, Ferlay J, Soerjomataram I, Siegel RL, Torre LA, Jemal A. Global cancer statistics 2018: GLOBOCAN estimates of incidence and mortality worldwide for 36 cancers in 185 countries. CA Cancer J Clin. 2018;68(6):394-424. https://doi.org/10.3322/caac.21492 PMid:30207593 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3322/caac.21492
International Agency for Research on Cancer. The Global Cancer Observatory. Lyon: International Agency for Research on Cancer; 2020.
Kostov I, Ivanov S. Prevention and prophylaxis in obstetrics and gynecology. Akush Ginekol. 2018;57(2):57-8.
Georgiev S, Savov A, Kostova P, Frandeva B, Kostov I, Zlatkov V. Frequency and characteristic of HPV cervical infection during pregnancy and postpartum and the role of smoking as a predisposing factor. CR Acad Bulg Sci. 2019;72(4):551-8. https://doi.org/10.7546/crabs.2019.04.17 DOI: https://doi.org/10.7546/CRABS.2019.04.17
Meilani E, Zanudin A, Nordin NA. Psychometric properties of quality of life questionnaires for patients with breast cancer-related lymphedema: A protocol for a systematic review. Medicine (Baltimore). 2020;99(52):e23897. https://doi.org/10.1097/md.0000000000023897 PMid:33350786 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1097/MD.0000000000023897
Williams AE, Rapport F, Russell IT, Hutchings HA. Psychometric development of the upper limb lymphedema quality of life questionnaire demonstrated the patient-reported outcome measure to be a robust measure for breast cancer-related lymphedema. J Clin Epidemiol. 2018;100:61-70. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclinepi.2018.04.014 PMid:29723583 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclinepi.2018.04.014
Keeley V, Crooks S, Locke J, Veigas D, Riches K, Hilliam R. A quality of life measure for limb lymphoedema (LYMQOL). J Lymphol. 2010;5(1):26-37.
Kostov I. Assessment of the Impact of Medical Standard in Obstetrics and Gynaecology: Organizational, Clinical and DEONTOLOGICAL ASPECTS. Doctoral Thesis. Varna: Medical University of Varna; 2017.9.
Launois R, Alliot F. Quality of life scale in upper limb lymphoedema-a validation study. Lymphology. 2000;33:266-74.
Ivkovic-Kapicl T, Vicko F, Djilas D, Tot T. Large-format histology in diagnosing breast carcinoma. Vojnosanit Pregl. 2020;77(9):986-91. https://doi.org/10.2298/vsp180515166i DOI: https://doi.org/10.2298/VSP180515166I
Hamer J, McDonald R, Zhang L, Verma S, Leahey A, Ecclestone C, et al. Quality of life (QOL) and symptom burden (SB) in patients with breast cancer. Support Care Cancer. 2017;25(2):409-19. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-016-3417-6 PMid:27696078 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-016-3417-6
Monticone M, Ferriero G, Keeley V, Brunati R, Liquori V, Maggioni S, et al. Lymphedema quality of life questionnaire (LYMQOL): Cross-cultural adaptation and validation in Italian women with upper limb lymphedema after breast cancer. Disabil Rehabil. 2021;2021.1-6. http://doi.org/10.1080/09638288.2021.1890842 PMid:33651953 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09638288.2021.1890842
Costa WA, Monteiro MN, Queiroz JF, Gonçalves AK. Pain and quality of life in breast cancer patients. Clinics (Sao Paulo). 2017;72(12):758-63. https://doi.org/10.6061/clinics/2017(12)07 PMid:29319722 DOI: https://doi.org/10.6061/clinics/2017(12)07
Costa WA, Eleutério J Jr., Giraldo PC, Gonçalves AK. Quality of life in breast cancer survivors. Rev Assoc Med Bras (1992). 2017a;63(7):583-9. https://doi.org/10.1590/1806-9282.63.07.583 PMid:28977083 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1590/1806-9282.63.07.583
Delchev Y, Kostov I, Totsev R. Tumors in retroperitoneal area. Clinical case. Akush Ginekol. 2018;57(4):33-7.
Lovelace DL, McDaniel LR, Golden D. Long-term effects of breast cancer surgery, treatment, and survivor care. J Midwifery Womens Health. 2019;64(6):713-24. https://doi.org/10.1111/jmwh.13012 PMid:31322834 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/jmwh.13012
Kovac A, Tovilovic S, Ignjatovic VB, Popovic-Petrovic S, Tatic M. The role of cognitive emotion regulation strategies in health related quality of life of breast cancer patients. Vojnosanit Pregl. 2020;77(10):1032-40. https://doi.org/10.2298/vsp180205178k DOI: https://doi.org/10.2298/VSP180205178K
Mülkoğlu C, Ayhan F, Erel S. Sexual functions and quality of life in patients developing lymphedema after total mastectomy: A pilot study. Lymphat Res Biol. 2021. http://doi,org/10.1089/lrb.2020.0053 PMid:33646047 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1089/lrb.2020.0053
Kostic S, Murtezani Z, Andric Z, Ivanovic N, Kozomara Z, Kostic M, et al. Assessment of age-related influences on the quality of life of breast cancer patients before and after surgical treatment. Vojnosanit Pregl. 2020;77(9):908-16. https://doi.org/10.2298/vsp180629155k DOI: https://doi.org/10.2298/VSP180629155K
Kostov I, Vasilev N, Nacheva A, Lazarov I. Radical trachelectomy-surgery for preserving woman’s fertility in patients with invasive cervical cancer. Akush Ginekol. 2013;52(7):27-30. PMid:24505637
Bojinović-Rodić D, Popović-Petrović S, Tomić S, Markez S, Živanić D. Upper extremity function and quality of life in patients with breast cancer related lymphedema. Vojnosanit Pregl. 2016;73(9):825-30. https://doi.org/10.2298/vsp150208075b PMid:29320146 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2298/VSP150208075B
Khater AI, Noaman MK, Abdel Hafiz MN, Moneer MM, Elattar IA. Health-related quality of life among Egyptian female breast cancer patients at the National Cancer Institute, Cairo University. Asian Pac J Cancer Prev. 2019;20(10):3113-9. https://doi.org/10.31557/apjcp.2019.20.10.3113 PMid:31653162 DOI: https://doi.org/10.31557/APJCP.2019.20.10.3113
Bjerkeset E, Röhrl K, Schou-Bredal I. Symptom cluster of pain, fatigue, and psychological distress in breast cancer survivors: Prevalence and characteristics. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2020;180(1):63-71. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-020-05522-8 PMid:31938939 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-020-05522-8
Sun Y, Shigaki CL, Armer JM. The influence of breast cancer related lymphedema on women’s return-to-work. Womens Health (Lond). 2020;16:1745506520905720. http://doi.org/10.1177/1745506520905720 PMid:32293984. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1745506520905720
Nedyalkov K, Magunska N, Bechev B, Kostov I. Survival rate and complications after different type of pelvic exenterations for gynecological cancer. EJGO Eur J Gynaecol Oncol. 2019;40(1):69-73.
Lee TS, Morris CM, Czerniec SA, Mangion AJ. Does lymphedema severity affect quality of life? Simple question. Challenging answers. Lymphat Res Biol. 2018;16(1):85-91. https://doi.org/10.1089/lrb.2016.0049 PMid:28453410 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1089/lrb.2016.0049
Kostov I, Yunakova M, Georgiev B, Petrova Z. Analysis of the quality of medical services in obstetrics and gynecology practice in Bulgaria-a study in organizational, clinical and deontological aspects. Akush ginekol. 2017;56(6):9-16.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
License
Copyright (c) 2020 Galina Yaneva, Tsonka Dimitrova, Dobri Ivanov, Gergana Ingilizova, Sergei Slavov (Author)
![Creative Commons License](http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc/4.0/88x31.png)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0