Breast Cancer: Quality of Life Tracks Health Status

Asked to rate their quality of life, women with breast cancer are likely to base their answer on their ability to function normally and the number of symptoms with which they contend on a daily basis, according to preliminary results from a prospective U.K. study.

Among 3,159 women enrolled in the DietCompLyf study, significant inverse correlations were seen for a general quality of life health score and scores on a functional scale (r=0.651, P<0.01) and for global health status (r=0.534, P<0.01), according to Ruth Swann, MD, from the University of Westminster in London, and colleagues.

In addition, the quality of life scores also correlated with scores on a symptom scale (r=0.513, P<0.01), Swann reported in an abstract session at the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) Quality of Life meeting in Brussels.

The DietCompLyf study began as a pilot trial in 1997, with the goal of assessing the influence of treatment, diet, and lifestyle on quality of life among women with breast cancer.

The pilot study enrolled 500 patients from three U.K. centers, and subsequent support from the National Cancer Research Network allowed its expansion to 56 centers.

"Patients are seen every year, so that we can monitor changes over time in disease, treatment, lifestyle, diet, and general health," Swann told MedPage Today.

Cancer and its treatment can have a major impact on your life. How well you feel – emotionally and physically – during and after treatment can affect your ability to fulfill your role in the family, to continue working and to participate in activities you enjoy. At CTCA, we recognize that treating cancer means treating the whole person, not just the cancer itself.

For that reason, we regularly survey CTCA patients about their emotional and physical health as well as the benefits and side-effects of their treatment, and we publish the results of these surveys in this section of our website. The average score reported by breast cancer patients who responded to the surveys indicates that their physical health remained relatively stable after three months of CTCA treatment and that their emotional health improved slightly.

The following definitions may be helpful as you read through our breast cancer quality of life statistics:

- Physical Health: How physically fit do you feel and how able are you to perform the daily activities of living? Can you dress, walk, eat and move from place to place with relative ease? Are these activities getting easier or harder for you to do?
- Emotional Health: How do you feel mentally? Are you depressed and anxious or more hopeful and relaxed? Is your emotional health deteriorating or improving?

Of particular interest will be the possible effects of phytoestrogens, and patients fill out detailed dietary questionnaires and provide blood and urine samples at each visit, she explained.