Survivorship issues as determinants of quality of life after breast cancer treatment: Report from a limited resource setting.

Objectives: Quality of life (QOL) in breast cancer survivors is affected by various long term sequelae of breast cancer treatment. The present study was conducted with the objectives to estimate prevalence of various survivorship issues, and to identify those which are most predictive of limitations in QOL after completion of primary therapy.

Material &methods: This study was conducted in 230 breast cancer survivors (BCs) and 112 controls at an academic centre in Northern India. Assessment of QOL was done by SF-36 and FACT-B questionnaires. Survivorship issues were noted from a checklist of 14 commonly reported symptoms. Main outcome measures were (1) frequencies of survivorship issues and QOL scores among three groups of survivors divided on the basis of time elapsed since treatment (<2, 2-5, and >5 year follow up) (2) Issues most predictive of limitations in QOL, identified by stepwise logistic regression analysis.

Results: Longer term BCs showed higher QOL scores as compared to those in early follow up. However their QOL scores remained poorer compared to healthy women. The most prevalent survivorship issues were fatigue (60%), restriction of shoulder movement (59.6%), body and joint pain (63.5%), chemotherapy induced cessation of menstruation (73.3%) and loss of sexual desire (60%). Issues which had maximum impact on QOL scores were emotional distress (r = -11.375), fatigue (r = -9.27) and premature menopause (r = -2.085) and its related symptoms.

Conclusion: Management of these issues should be priority areas for supportive care, especially in settings with limited resource.