Factors associated with return to work after breast cancer treatment.

Relatively few studies have addressed problems regarding return to work after primary treatment for early-stage breast cancer. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether socio-economic and treatment-related factors were associated with problems of returning to work among pre-menopausal women included in a randomized trial of adjuvant endocrine therapy. The duration of all endocrine treatments in the trial was two years.

Side effects of adjuvant endocrine treatment in premenopausal breast cancer patients: a prospective randomized study.

Purpose: To compare the effect of adjuvant endocrine therapies with and without chemotherapy on physical symptoms, anxiety, and depressive symptoms in premenopausal women with breast cancer in a randomized clinical trial (the Zoladex in Premenopausal Patients trial).

Patients And Methods: The patients were randomly assigned to goserelin, goserelin plus tamoxifen, tamoxifen alone, or no endocrine therapy. The duration of the endocrine treatment was 2 years.

The meaning of breast cancer.

Breast cancer patients' perception of illness could influence preferences in decision-making. According to Lipowsky, the meaning of illness might influence coping abilities and he suggests eight categories of meaning as prevalent in our culture: 'challenge', 'enemy', 'punishment', 'weakness', 'irreparable loss', 'relief', 'strategy' and 'value'. In this study 187 Swedish breast cancer patients chose one of these eight categories as their meaning of breast cancer.