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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Oncol.
Sec. Breast Cancer
Volume 14 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fonc.2024.1466625
This article is part of the Research Topic Multidisciplinary and Personalized Approach in the Treatment of Advanced Breast Cancer View all 12 articles

Quality of Life and its Predictors among Breast Cancer Patients Treated with Surgery-A Retrospective Minimum 3-Year Follow-up Study

Provisionally accepted
Wenzhen Tang Wenzhen Tang Yao-Qiong Lu Yao-Qiong Lu *Yan-Juan Teng Yan-Juan Teng *Tian-Fu Wei Tian-Fu Wei *Guo-lian Chen Guo-lian Chen *Kui Jia Kui Jia *
  • First Affiliated Hospital, Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Aim: Quality of life (QoL) has been identified as an important indicator of positive outcomes among breast cancer (BC) survivors. However, the status and predictors of QoL in China remain unclear. This retrospective follow-up study aimed to examine the QoL levels among BC patients following surgery and to assess the influence of sociodemographic, clinical, and psychological factors on QoL. Methods: An institution-based retrospective follow-up study was conducted among 714 BC patients who received surgery at the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University between January 2016 and December 2019. Our primary outcome measure was QoL, assessed using the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer QoL Questionnaire Core 30 (EORTC QLQ-C30). Anxiety and depression were evaluated by the Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS) and the Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS), respectively. Data on the patient demographics and clinical were derived from medical records. Results are presented as means (SD), medians [Q1, Q3], or percentage (%). We used R 4.2.2 software to identify factors associated with QoL after BC surgery. AMOS 28.0 was used to construct a structural equation model (SEM) to predict QoL outcomes.The overall QoL score was 43.30±4.77 (mean±SD). Predictive factors were: surgery type, radiotherapy, anxiety, and depression (p＜0.05).The results of the SEM indicated that anxiety and depression had a direct negative effect on QoL (effect value was -0.46, -0.84, respectively, p＜ 0.05), radiotherapy had a direct positive effect on QoL (effect value was 0.71, p＜0.05). The type of surgery (mastectomy) impacted QoL both directly and indirectly through its association with depression, with direct and indirect effect values of -0.96 and -0.66, respectively (p < 0.05).The QoL of BC patients after surgery is generally moderate to low. Medical staff should prioritize early identification and rehabilitation management for patients experiencing anxiety, depression, radiotherapy, and mastectomy to enhance their QoL. Our findings provide a strong foundation for developing nursing intervention plans and assessment guidelines for practitioners caring for BC patients.

    Keywords: breast cancer, follow-up, Quality of Life, Surgery, factor

    Received: 18 Jul 2024; Accepted: 28 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Tang, Lu, Teng, Wei, Chen and Jia. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Yao-Qiong Lu, First Affiliated Hospital, Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, China
    Yan-Juan Teng, First Affiliated Hospital, Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, China
    Tian-Fu Wei, First Affiliated Hospital, Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, China
    Guo-lian Chen, First Affiliated Hospital, Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, China
    Kui Jia, First Affiliated Hospital, Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, China

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