The effect of chemotherapy on subjective cognitive function in younger early-stage breast cancer survivors treated with chemotherapy compared to older patients.

Purpose: To evaluate the impact of chemotherapy on subjective cognitive functioning according to age in a large cohort of breast cancer patients.

Methods: Within the UMBRELLA cohort, 715 patients with early-stage primary invasive breast cancer (T1-3N0-1M0) were selected. Subjective cognitive function was assessed by means of the EORTC QLQ-C30 up to 24 months and compared between patients treated with and without chemotherapy, for three different age strata (355 patients < 55 years, 240 patients aged 55-65 years, and 120 patients > 65 years).