'I presumed the pain would eventually get better by itself'; challenges with access to rehabilitation for upper limb dysfunction after breast cancer treatment - Descriptive and qualitative findings from a cross-sectional survey.

Purpose: Sixty percent of breast cancer patients develop persistent upper limb pain and dysfunction, but only limited knowledge exists about how these symptoms relate to rehabilitation access.

Methods: A postal survey was sent to patients treated at a London University Teaching Hospital (2018-2020). Data were collected on pain (Pain Detect), shoulder function (Disability of Shoulder Arm and Hand (DASH)), quality-of-life (QoL) (EQ-5D-5L), and clinical characteristics, including treatment and access to rehabilitation.

Employing multiple synchronous outcome samples per subject to improve study efficiency.

Background: Accuracy can be improved by taking multiple synchronous samples from each subject in a study to estimate the endpoint of interest if sample values are not highly correlated. If feasible, it is useful to assess the value of this cluster approach when planning studies. Multiple assessments may be the only method to increase power to an acceptable level if the number of subjects is limited.

Cancer Biology and Survival Analysis in Cancer Trials: Restricted Mean Survival Time Analysis versus Hazard Ratios.

Hazard ratios are commonly used when comparing survival between two groups and make the assumption that the relative event rates do not change markedly during follow-up, i.e. that event rates are proportional.