title: Joint symptoms and health-related quality of life in postmenopausal women with breast cancer who completed 5 years of anastrozole.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the joint symptoms and the impact on patients' health-related quality of life (HRQOL) due to 5 years of anastrozole from the baseline data in the N-SAS BC 05 trial, a randomized clinical trial was designed to assess the efficacy of 5 additional years of anastrozole among women with breast cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  Joint symptoms and HRQOL were evaluated using an original questionnaire for joint symptoms, the Short Form 36-item Health Survey (SF-36), the EuroQol EQ-5D-3L, and a subscale of the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Endocrine Symptoms (FACT-ES).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Baseline joint symptom and HRQOL data were collected from 330 patients between November 2007 and March 2010. Joint pain and joint stiffness were reported by 61.6 and 59.1 % of patients, respectively, although these symptoms did not affect the activities of daily living in 96.0 and 97.9 % of patients, respectively. Joint pain was reported in the knee by 61.0 % of patients and in the hand by 36.0 % of patients. Joint stiffness mainly affected the hand (67.9 %), especially the proximal interphalangeal joint, and typically occurred upon waking up or in the morning. Most SF-36 domains had good average scores, although slight decreases in physical functioning and role-physical were observed (compared to the national standard scores). The mean EQ-5D utility score was 0.86, and the total FACT-ES subscale score was 62.2/76.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  After 5 years of anastrozole, many of the patients reported joint pain and stiffness in mainly the hand and knee with mild symptoms and good HRQOL.
authors.affiliation: Department of Breast Care, Saitama Medical Center, Saitama Medical University, 1981, Kamoda, Kawagoe-shi, Saitama, 350-0844, Japan. yagata@biglobe.jp.
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yagata
authors.affiliation: Leading Center for the Development and Research of Cancer Medicine, Juntendo University Graduate School of Medicine, Hongo 2-1-1, Bunkyo-Ku, Tokyo, 113-8421, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ohtsu
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Kinki University Faculty of Medicine, 377-2 Ohno-higashi, Osaka-Sayama, Osaka, 589-8511, Japan.
authors.forename: Yoshifumi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Komoike
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Fukushima Medical University, 1 Hikariga-oka, Fukushima, 960-1295, Japan.
authors.forename: Shigehira
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Saji
authors.affiliation: Department of Breast Oncology, Nippon Medical School Hospital, 1-1-5 Sendagi, Bunkyou-ku, Tokyo, 113-8603, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroyuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Takei
authors.affiliation: National Center for Global Health and Medicine Center Hospital, 1-21-1 Toyama, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, 162-8655, Japan.
authors.forename: Toshitaka
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.affiliation: Department of Integrated Science and Engineering for Sustainable Society, Chuo University, 1-13-27 Kasuga, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 112-8511, Japan.
authors.forename: Yasuo
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ohashi
authors.affiliation: Department of Breast Surgery, Cancer Institute Hospital, 3-8-31 Ariake, Koto, Tokyo, 135-8550, Japan.
authors.forename: Takuya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Iwase
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Sciences, College of Life Sciences, Ritsumeikan University, 1-1-1, Noji-Higashi, Kusatsu, 525-8577, Japan.
authors.forename: Kojiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Shimozuma
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000077384:Anastrozole; D018931:Antineoplastic Agents, Hormonal / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000009:adverse effects*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy*; D004334:Drug Administration Schedule; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007592:Joint Diseases / Q000139:chemically induced*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009570:Nitriles / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000009:adverse effects*; D017698:Postmenopause; D011788:Quality of Life; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014230:Triazoles / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000009:adverse effects*
chemical_list: D018931:Antineoplastic Agents, Hormonal; D009570:Nitriles; D014230:Triazoles; D000077384:Anastrozole
keywords: Anastrozole; Breast cancer; Joint pain and stiffness; Quality of life