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. 2018 Dec 19;15(1):26-31.
doi: 10.5152/ejbh.2018.4297. eCollection 2019 Jan.

Advanced Clinical Stage at Diagnosis of Breast Cancer Is Associated with Poorer Health-Related Quality of Life: A Cross-Sectional Study

Julia de Mello Ramirez Medina  1 , Ingrid de Araujo Trugilho  1 , Giovanna Nunes Belo Mendes  2 , Josiel Guedes Silva  3 , Maria Alexsandra da Silva Paiva  4 , Suzana Sales de Aguiar  1 , Luiz Claudio Santos Thuler  1 , Anke Bergmann  1
Affiliations

Advanced Clinical Stage at Diagnosis of Breast Cancer Is Associated with Poorer Health-Related Quality of Life: A Cross-Sectional Study

Julia de Mello Ramirez Medina et al. Eur J Breast Health. .

Abstract

Objective: To describe the clinical stage in women diagnosed with breast cancer and the association between clinical stage and Health-related quality of life (HRQoL).

Materials and methods: This was a cross-sectional study involving women diagnosed with breast cancer. HRQoL was assessed with European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer 30-Item Quality of Life Questionnaire and the Quality of Life Questionnaire Breast Cancer 23. The principal exposure was clinical stage (<IIB versus ≥IIB). Simple linear regression was performed and variables with p<0.20 were selected for the multiple linear regression. The final model was composed of statistically significant variables (p<0.05).

Results: In total, 302 women were included. The majority (58.9%) had been diagnosed with advanced stage cancer (≥IIB). Those at an advanced clinical stage had poorer role functioning (p=0.029), pain (p<0.001), and symptoms in the breast (p<0.001).

Conclusion: Advanced clinical stage at diagnosis was found to be associated with worse health-related quality of life in breast cancer patients.

Keywords: Breast neoplasm; neoplasm staging; quality of life.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

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