Younger Women Experience Social Functioning Problems Regardless Of Treatment.(social and psychological results of breast cancer treatment)(Brief Article)

2001 SEP 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) --

Younger women with breast carcinoma could experience a range of adjustment problems at various points during their treatment according to the findings of a study published in the September 1, 2001 issue of Cancer.

According to the researchers, although improvements occur in body image and physical, emotional, and functional well-being over time, social support, social/family well-being, and satisfaction with sex life appear to decline overtime, regardless of the treatment modality used.

"As hypothesized, overall subjects showed significant improvement on most quality of life dimensions during the first six months after surgery; however, they did suffer a deterioration on both indicators of social functioning and reported a reduction in satisfaction with their sex lives," comments chief researcher Neeraj K. Arora, PhD, who at the time the research was conducted was employed in the Center for Health Systems Research and Analysis at the University of Wisconsin in Madison (currently working at the National Cancer Institute).

Advances in breast carcinoma treatment have resulted in recent improvements in the five-year survival rates for patients diagnosed with breast carcinoma. Current treatment modalities, such as breast-conserving treatment and adjuvant chemotherapy, increasingly are being offered to improve patient' survival. In an effort to assess the efficacy of these treatments, researchers have recently extended their focus beyond mortality rates to encompass patients' quality of life after treatment as well.

Previous studies suggest that although in the long-term women with breast carcinoma report levels of physical, social, and psychological well-being comparable to those reported by women without breast carcinoma, in the short-term, women with breast carcinoma, especially younger women, experience substantial disruptions to their quality of life. The authors of the current study attempted to obtain a more detailed understanding of the short-term adjustment problems faced by younger women after breast carcinoma treatment and the individual and combined impact of surgery and chemotherapy on their quality of life.

Arora and his colleagues derived their data from a larger randomized clinical trial that evaluated the breast carcinoma program of CHESS (Comprehensive Health Enhancement Support System), a computer-based health support system designed to help patients deal with health crises. For the current study, the authors recruited women (with a maximum eligible age of 60 years) within six months of their receiving a diagnosis of breast carcinoma between April 1995 and May 1997 from four Midwestern hospitals and a community-based resource center for people with cancer. All participants were surveyed at baseline and approximately five months thereafter. Researchers measured the patients' quality of life on the basis of several criteria, using the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Breast (FACT-B) instrument.