Identification of Breast Cancer Survivors With High Symptom Burden.
Meagan S Whisenant, Loretta A Williams, Tito Mendoza and 4 others
PMID 34608052WHAT IT FOUND
23.0% of breast cancer survivors in this sample were in a high symptom group with fatigue, sleep and memory problems, and worse quality of life and function.
Key findings
01A high symptom burden group included 23.0% of women, and a low symptom burden group included 77.0%.
02Moderate to severe fatigue was reported by 22.8% of participants, sleep disturbance by 24.8%, and difficulty remembering by 17.2%.
03Women in the high symptom group reported lower overall quality of life and greater symptom interference with functioning than women in the low group.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The paper reports the parent study enrolment of 1544 women but does not state the number analysed in this survivorship subset. Most women were White (86.1%) and not employed (53.8%), so results may not apply to other survivor groups. The analysis lacked data on co-morbidities, menopausal status, symptom management and previous sleep patterns, and could not separate chemotherapy, immunotherapy and endocrine therapy types. The symptom measure did not include some important breast cancer symptoms, such as lymphedema symptoms. Symptom severity was measured with single items, which can increase measurement error. The study did not test symptom management or follow women over the whole survivorship trajectory, so it cannot show that treating these symptoms improves quality of life or function. Data were collected only 28 to 35 days apart, so the symptom groups may not be stable over longer periods.
Declared interests
No author conflict-of-interest declaration is included. The paper's publication types list non-U.S. government and NIH extramural research support.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as evidence that treating fatigue, sleep or memory problems will improve quality of life or function. The study did not test any intervention. It only grouped survivors by symptom severity and linked group membership to outcomes.