Hot Flashes and Quality of Life Among Breast Cancer Patients
Abstract
Breast cancer (BC) has the greatest one-year incidence of any cancer among women, and women diagnosed with BC constitute the largest group of female survivors of cancer at five years and beyond. Both because of the age of the population and the use of certain therapeutic agents this process often includes menopause. Hot Flashes among BC patients are highly prevalent and qualitatively different from those experienced by healthy menopausal women. Specifically, BC patients report more frequent, longer lasting, and more bothersome hot flashes. Furthermore, compared to BC patients who do not experience hot flashes, those who do report poorer quality of life (QoL) with decreased physical and social functioning, as well as poorer general health, even after controlling for medical, demographic, and treatment variables. However, not all BC patients who experience hot flashes experience decreased QoL. Further, it is unclear whether BC patients rely solely on medical intervention or utilize complementary/alternative medicines (CAM) to treat hot flashes. This study examines the relationship between hot flashes and QoL in BC patients and develops a taxonomy of medical and CAM interventions used by BC patients. To date 78 patients have been recruited to participate in the parent study to the proposed project.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 01, 2004
- Accession Number
- ADA428958
Entities
People
- Linda A. Jacobs
Organizations
- University of Pennsylvania