Symptom trajectories in patients with breast cancer: An integrative review.
Tingting Cai, Yueshi Huang, Qingmei Huang and 2 others
PMID 35079613WHAT IT FOUND
Most breast cancer patients had low or improving symptom trajectories, but newly diagnosed, younger, chemotherapy-treated, and socially vulnerable patients showed persistent depression, sleep, anxiety, pain, fatigue, or sexual problems.
Key findings
01Among newly diagnosed patients, 38% had consistently increasing depression symptoms and 43% had low trajectories.
02About one-third of patients who had surgery experienced moderate arm pain in the first six months.
03In early-stage patients receiving chemotherapy, 11.5% reported persistent cognitive impairment.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
This review describes observed symptom patterns and associated factors. It does not test whether screening or nurse-led care changes outcomes. The included studies were heterogeneous in population, symptom set, timing, and measurement, so the findings are themes rather than pooled effects. The search was limited to selected databases and English peer-reviewed articles, so some relevant evidence may have been missed. Most included studies were from the United States, which may limit transferability to other settings. The review did not include studies that analysed mixed cancer types or unavailable full texts, so it reflects only studies meeting those criteria.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest. The work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and the funding provided language editing.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this review as proof that nurse-led screening or early preventive care improves breast cancer symptoms. It describes which symptoms tend to follow different trajectories and which factors are associated with worse trajectories, but it does not test an intervention.