Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2019 May;8(5):2654-2663.
doi: 10.1002/cam4.2069. Epub 2019 Mar 18.

Cognitive complaints in cancer survivors and expectations for support: Results from a web-based survey

Marie Lange  1   2   3 , Idlir Licaj  1   2   3 , Bénédicte Clarisse  1 , Xavier Humbert  4   5   6 , Jean-Michel Grellard  1 , Laure Tron  2   3   7 , Florence Joly  1   2   3   7
Affiliations

Cognitive complaints in cancer survivors and expectations for support: Results from a web-based survey

Marie Lange et al. Cancer Med. 2019 May.

Abstract

Background: Cognitive complaints are common in cancer survivors. We aimed to assess cognitive complaints in cancer survivors and the associated factors using a large web-based survey.

Methods: This online survey was proposed to cancer survivors. Participants completed several questions on cognitive complaints experience, expectations for support of cognitive difficulties, preexisting knowledge about chemotherapy-associated cognitive problems and demographic and medical variables. We used multivariable logistic regression models to estimate Odds Ratios and 95% confidence intervals to estimate associations.

Results: Among 1610 eligible participants (median age 52 [21-84]), >85% (n = 1393) were breast cancer survivors. Median postcancer treatment time (excluding hormone therapy) was 2.83 years [0.8-33]. Seventy five percent of the participants (n = 1214) reported cognitive complaints related to cancer treatments. Cognitive difficulties had an impact on work resumption for 76% of the participants (n = 754/982). Most cancer survivors would like to receive support (75%, n = 909) and especially cognitive training (72%, n = 658). Chemotherapy was strongly associated with cognitive complaints (multivariable OR = 3.67, 95% CI: 2.80-4.82). Self-reported sleep difficulties (ORoften vs. never = 2.84, 95% CI: 1.80-4.47), preexisting knowledge about chemotherapy-associated cognitive problems (ORNo vs. Yes = 1.69, 95% CI: 1-29-2.22) and age (OR21-64 vs. ≥65 = 0.37, 95% CI: 0.23-0.58) were also associated with cancer-related cognitive complaints.

Conclusions: According to this large web-based survey including mainly breast cancer survivors, cognitive complaints were reported by three quarters of participants, which reinforces that cognitive difficulties are a major issue in cancer survivors. Chemotherapy, self-reported sleep difficulties and preexisting knowledge about chemotherapy-associated cognitive problems were strongly associated with cancer-related cognitive complaints. Most cancer survivors wished to receive support and especially cognitive training.

Keywords: cancer treatments; chemobrain; cognitive complaints; survey.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow chart
Figure 2
Figure 2
Expectations for support of cognitive complaints among n = 909 participants with cognitive complaints who were interested in cognitive support.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Joly F, Giffard B, Rigal O, et al. Impact of cancer and its treatments on cognitive function: advances in research from the Paris international cognition and cancer task force symposium and update since 2012. J Pain Symptom Manage. 2015;50:830‐841. - PubMed
    1. Boykoff N, Moieni M, Subramanian SK. Confronting chemobrain: an in‐depth look at survivors' reports of impact on work, social networks, and health care response. J Cancer Surviv. 2009;3:223‐232. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Nieuwenhuijsen K, de Boer A, Spelten E, Sprangers MA, Verbeek JH. The role of neuropsychological functioning in cancer survivors' return to work one year after diagnosis. Psycho‐Oncology. 2009;18:589‐597. - PubMed
    1. Von Ah D, Habermann B, Carpenter JS, Schneider BL. Impact of perceived cognitive impairment in breast cancer survivors. Eur J Oncol Nurs. 2013;17:236‐241. - PubMed
    1. Pullens MJ, De Vries J, Roukema JA. Subjective cognitive dysfunction in breast cancer patients: a systematic review. Psycho‐Oncology. 2010;19:1127‐1138. - PubMed

Publication types