title: The course of Health Related Quality of Life in postmenopausal women with breast cancer from breast surgery and up to five years post-treatment.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Previous studies include too few patients over 70 years to be able to assess treatment effects on Health Related Quality Of Life (HRQOL) in the older age group. We aimed to follow HRQOL in postmenopausal women (55-80 years) with breast cancer receiving adjuvant treatment, until five years post-treatment, and compare with a general population.
  
  
  METHODS
  The patient sample included 150 women (adjuvant CT n = 75 and RT n = 75) and two reference samples from the Swedish SF-36 norm database.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Data from baseline showed significantly higher levels of physical functioning and general health among the patients compared to the reference sample, and significantly lower levels of bodily pain, emotional role functioning and mental health. Longitudinal analyses showed significant changes in all scales, and three different patterns (a decrease-stable, a decrease-increase, and a stable- increase pattern) were identified.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Postmenopausal women seem to successfully manage the effects of adjuvant treatment on HRQOL.
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, University of Skövde, Sweden; Karolinska Institutet, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Division of Nursing, Stockholm, Sweden. Electronic address: maria.brovall@ki.se.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Browall
authors.forename: Ulrika
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Östlund
authors.forename: Ingela
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Henoch
authors.forename: Yvonne
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wengström
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D017024:Chemotherapy, Adjuvant; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008875:Middle Aged; D010146:Pain / Q000209:etiology; D017698:Postmenopause; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013997:Time Factors
keywords: Adjuvant treatment; Breast cancer; HRQOL; Longitudinal; Postmenopausal; SF-36