title: Health-related quality of life in women with breast cancer: a literature-based review of psychometric properties of breast cancer-specific measures.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers in women in the world. Health-related quality of life (HRQL) at treatment endpoint in cancer clinical trials is widely considered to be increasingly important. The aim of this review was to provide a literature-based assessment of the validity, reliability and responsiveness of breast cancer-specific HRQL instruments in women breast cancer patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  The databases consulted were Medline, PubMed, and Embase. The inclusion criteria required studies to: (1) involve use of HRQL measures; (2) cover women with breast cancer under standard treatment (surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, hormone therapy, and targeted therapy); (3) involve the validity, reliability, or responsiveness of HRQL; (4) deal with validation of breast cancer-specific HRQL instruments.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 16 studies were identified through the literature search that met the 4 inclusion criteria. Some seven instruments were assessed among these 16 studies: EORTC QLQ-BR23, FACT-B, FACT-ES, HFRDIS, LSQ- 32, QLICP-BR, and SLDS-BC. EORTC QLQ-BR23, FACT-B, LSQ-32, QLICP-BR, and SLDS-BC are more general breast cancer-specific HRQL instruments. FACT-EB is the endocrine subscale combined with FACT-B in order to measure the side effects and putative benefits of hormonal treatment administered in breast cancer patients. HFRDIS is the HRQL measure focusing on hot flash concerns.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This paper provides an overall understanding on the currently available breast cancer-specific HRQL instruments in women breast cancer patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Geriatrics, Shengjing Hospital, China Medical University, Shenyang, China E-mail : hep@sj-hospital.org.
authors.forename: Hui-Yan
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Niu
authors.forename: Chun-Ying
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Niu
authors.forename: Jia-He
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: He
mesh_terms: D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000295:instrumentation; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires