Fatigue, anxiety and depression overrule the role of oncological treatment in predicting self-reported health complaints in women with breast cancer compared to healthy controls.
BACKGROUND
Women with breast cancer often attribute their health problems as side effects caused by oncological treatments. The aim of the study was to examine and compare self-reported health complaints (SHC) in postmenopausal patients with breast cancer to healthy controls.


METHODS
Women with breast cancer (N = 196) filled in 5 questionnaires 1-2 years after surgery; SHC Inventory, Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Endocrine Subscale (FACT-ES), Fatigue - Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Fatigue subscale (FACIT-F), Fatigue Visual Analog Scale (Fatigue VAS), and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). Controls comprised 101 blood donors who reported on the questionnaires except for HADS. Bonferroni adjustment and p < 0.0017 was considered statistically significant for SHC Inventory, p < 0.05 for the remaining questionnaires.


RESULTS
The patients, mean age 58.0 (SD 9.5), reported significantly more self-reported health complaints, whereof 6 of 29 complaints were significantly elevated compared to the controls, mean age 57.0 (SD 5.8) (p < 0.001). HADS scores in patients fell into normal range, mean 6.3 (SD 5.7). A subgroup of 48 patients experienced more frequent and severe symptoms in all the questionnaires compared to the remaining 148 patients, and the 101 controls. Among the patients, fatigue, anxiety and depression explained 49% of the total variance in self-reported health complaints (p ≤ 0.001).


CONCLUSIONS
Most women with breast cancer (76%) reported health complaints equal to the healthy controls. Fatigue, anxiety and depression, not oncological treatments, were significant predictors for the complaints.
Department of Breast and Endocrine Surgery, Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway. Electronic address: kari.britt.hagen@helse-bergen.no.
Kari Britt
KB
Hagen
Department of Breast and Endocrine Surgery, Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway. Electronic address: turid.aas@helse-bergen.no.
Turid
T
Aas
Research Department, Stavanger University Hospital, Stavanger, Norway; Department of Mathematics and Natural Science, University of Stavanger, Stavanger, Norway. Electronic address: jan.t.kvaloy@uis.no.
Jan Terje
JT
Kvaløy
Department of Sport and Physical Activity, Bergen University College, Bergen, Norway; Uni Research Health, Bergen, Norway. Electronic address: hege.eriksen@uni.no.
Hege R
HR
Eriksen
Department of Surgery, Stavanger University Hospital, Stavanger, Norway; Department of Clinical Science, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway. Electronic address: hsoiland@gmail.com.
Håvard
H
Søiland
Department of Medicine, Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway; Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway. Electronic address: ragna.lind@helse-bergen.no.
Ragna
R
Lind
D000368:Aged; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology*; D015914:Estrogen Replacement Therapy; D005221:Fatigue / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D019584:Hot Flashes / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D007508:Irritable Mood; D008875:Middle Aged; D017698:Postmenopause / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
Breast cancer; Oncological treatments; Postmenopausal symptoms; Self-reported health complaints