title: Fatigue and quality of life in breast cancer survivors: a comparative study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess fatigue and quality of life in disease-free breast cancer survivors in relation to a sample of age-matched women with no cancer history and to explore the relationship between fatigue and quality of life.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional study was conducted in a sample of 202 consecutive disease-free Brazilian breast cancer survivors, all of whom had completed treatment, treated at 2 large hospitals. The patients were compared to age-matched women with no cancer history attending a primary health care center. The Piper Fatigue Scale-Revised and the World Health Organization Quality of Life Instrument (WHOQOL-BREF) were used to measure the fatigue and quality of life, respectively. Socio-demographic and clinical variables were also obtained. The χ2 test, generalized linear model, and Spearman correlation coefficient were used for statistical purposes. The adopted level of significance was 5%.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Breast cancer survivors experienced significantly greater total and subscale fatigue scores than comparison group (all p-values<0.05). In addition, survivors reported a poorer quality of life in physical (p=0.002), psychological (p=0.03), and social relationships (p=0.03) domains than comparison group. No difference was found for the environmental domain (p=0.08) for both groups. For survivors of breast cancer and for comparison group, the total and subscale fatigue scores were related to lower quality of life (all p-values<0.01).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings of this study highlight the importance of assessing fatigue and quality of life in breast cancer survivors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Universidade Estadual de Ponta Grossa, Ponta Grossa, PR, Brazil.
authors.forename: Ana Claudia Garabeli Cavalli
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Kluthcovsky
authors.affiliation: Department of Tocogynecology, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Curitiba, PR, Brazil.
authors.forename: Almir Antonio
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Urbanetz
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005221:Fatigue / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D011788:Quality of Life; D057566:Self Report; D017741:Survivors