Impact of breast cancer and quality of life of women survivors

ABSTRACT Objective: To evaluate the impact of breast cancer and the quality of life of women survivors and to identify associations between sociodemographic and clinical variables. Method: This was a cross-sectional, analytical, quantitative study conducted with women receiving outpatient post-treatment care at a public institution of the city of São Paulo, state of São Paulo, Brazil. Instruments: sociodemographic and clinical questionnaires; Impact of Cancer scale; Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Breast Cancer scale. Descriptive and analytical statistical analysis were performed. Results: One hundred women were included in the study with a mean age of 60 years (SD = 11.3); most with less than 5 years of follow-up, low purchasing power, and low education levels. Negative Impact of Cancer: Health Worry, Body Changes, Feelings, and Meaning of Cancer. Quality of life: 81.9 (18.3), specific: 105.6 (24.6). The following subscales of the impact of cancer scale predicted lower quality of life scores: Body Changes, Negative Self-Evaluation, and Concerns about Cancer (p <0.05). Conclusion: Although they presented high scores for quality of life, patients reported negative impacts of cancer, enhanced by vulnerabilities.

摘要
研究目的：评估乳腺癌对女性幸存者的影响及其生存质量，并探讨社会人口学与临床变量间的关联。
研究方法：本研究为横断面分析性定量研究，研究对象为巴西圣保罗州圣保罗市某公立医疗机构接受门诊后续治疗随访的女性患者。
研究工具：社会人口学问卷与临床问卷、癌症影响量表（Impact of Cancer scale）、癌症治疗功能评估-乳腺癌量表（Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Breast Cancer scale）。本研究采用描述性与分析性统计学方法开展数据分析。
研究结果：共纳入100名女性患者，平均年龄为60岁（标准差SD=11.3）；多数患者随访时长不足5年，购买力偏低且受教育水平较低。癌症负向影响维度涵盖健康担忧、躯体改变、情绪感受与癌症意义感知。患者生存质量总分为81.9（标准差18.3），乳腺癌特异性生存质量得分为105.6（标准差24.6）。癌症影响量表的以下维度可预测较低的生存质量评分：躯体改变、负面自我评估以及癌症相关担忧（p<0.05）。
研究结论：尽管患者的生存质量评分较高，但仍报告了癌症带来的负向影响，且该影响因自身存在的脆弱性而被放大。