Dissertation committee:
Μαρία Κυριακοπούλου-Λυμπέρη, Καθηγήτρια, Ιατρική Σχολή, ΕΚΠΑ
Γεώργιος Ζωγράφος, Καθηγητής, Ιατρική Σχολή, ΕΚΠΑ
Ιωάννης Γκρινιάτσος, Καθηγητής, Ιατρική Σχολή, ΕΚΠΑ
Νικόλαος Αρκαδόπουλος, Καθηγητής, Ιατρική Σχολή, ΕΚΠΑ
Μιχάλης Κοντός, Αναπληρωτής Καθηγητής, Ιατρική Σχολή, ΕΚΠΑ
Φλώρα Ζαγουρή, Αναπληρώτρια Καθηγήτρια, Ιατρική Σχολή, ΕΚΠΑ
Νικόλαος Μιχαλόπουλος, Επίκουρος Καθηγητής, Ιατρική Σχολή, ΕΚΠΑ
Summary:
Introduction: The continuously increasing survivorship of female breast cancer makes the monitoring and improvement of patients’ quality of life ever so important. While globally there is a growing body of research on health-related quality of life one year after surgical treatment for non-metastatic breast cancer, up-to-date information regarding Greek patients is scarce.
Objective: To measure the level of QoL of non-metastatic BC survivors in Greece 1 year after surgery.
Methods: A sample of 200 female breast cancer survivors aged 18 to 75, who followed up as outpatients in five public hospitals were included in this cross-sectional study. All recruited patients agreed to participate in the study (100% response rate). Quality of life data were collected through the EORTC QLQ-C30 as well as BR23 questionnaires.
Results: Cronbach’s alpha for all scales of the two questionnaires was from 0.551 to 0.936 indicating very good reliability. According to the Multiple Linear Regression, older patients showed a lower future perspective (p= .031), with those living in rural areas, which was associated with more financial difficulties (p= .001). Women with tertiary education and those who had been hospitalized in a university hospital recorded better on global health status (p= .003 and .000 respectively). Patients who had undergone chemotherapy reported better scores in the emotional function sub-scale (p= .025). Women with reconstruction appeared to have significantly better scores in future perspective and social function (p= .005, .002 respectively).
Conclusions: Breast cancer survivors were found to have an overall good quality of life, functioning/symptoms scores and were satisfied with the provided care. The QoL and its parameters in Greek patients are multifactorial and depend on the actual treatment as well as their socioeconomic background.
Keywords:
Adjuvant therapy, Breast cancer, Care, Quality of life, Surgery
