Quality of life in long-term breast cancer survivors

Abstract

Purpose: There is considerable interest in the quality of life (QOL) of long-term breast cancer (BC) survivors. We studied changes in QOL from time of BC diagnosis to long-term survivorship and compared QOL in long-term survivors to that of age-matched women with no history of BC.

Patients and methods: In all, 535 women with localized BC (T1-3N0-1M0) were recruited from 1989 to 1996 and followed prospectively, completing QOL questionnaires at diagnosis and 1 year postdiagnosis. Between 2005 and 2007, those alive without distant recurrence were recontacted to participate in a long-term follow-up (LTFU) study. A control group was recruited from women presenting for screening mammograms, and both groups completed LTFU QOL questionnaires. Longitudinal change in BC survivors and differences between BC survivors and controls were assessed in eight broad categories with clinically significant differences set at 5% and 10% of the breadth of each QOL scale.

Results: A total of 285 patients with BC were included in the study, on average 12.5 years postdiagnosis. Longitudinally, clinically significant improvements were observed in overall QOL by 1 year postdiagnosis with further improvements by LTFU. Some clinically significant improvements over time were seen in all categories. A total of 167 controls were recruited. Deficits were observed in self-reported cognitive functioning (5.3% difference) and financial impact (6.3% difference) in BC survivors at LTFU compared with controls.

Conclusion: Long-term BC survivors show improvement in many domains of QOL over time, and they appear to have similar QOL in most respects to age-matched noncancer controls, although small deficits in cognition and finances were identified.