Disclosures: Matthew Tay, FRCP: No financial relationships or conflicts of interest

Objective: Breast cancer remains the most common malignancy in women worldwide and in East Asia. Despite improved survival rates, survivors of breast cancer often demonstrate poor quality of life, even years after cancer diagnosis. Although acute rehabilitation needs may have been met, significant short- and long-term sequelae may persist, and current healthcare resources may not be appropriately allocated to address their needs. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate the prevalence of HRQOL of breast cancer survivors in the community.

Design: Cross-sectional observational study

Setting: Community-based cancer rehabilitation center

Participants: Patients with breast cancer from July 2020 to June 2021 in Singapore. Inclusion criteria for the study were all adult patients with breast cancer aged 21 years and above who were enrolled in the cancer rehabilitative program in our center. Exclusion criteria were patients who had cognitive dysfunction, or severe visual or hearing impairment. The study recruited 107 patients.

Interventions: None.

Main Outcome Measures: European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire Core-30 (EORTC QLQ-30).

Results: The mean duration after cancer diagnosis was 3.39 years. All patients had undergone breast cancer surgery, with mastectomy being the most common procedure (57.3%). The study participants also received chemotherapy (77.7%), radiotherapy (69.9%) and hormone therapy (62.1%). Only 7 (6.8%) of patients had metastatic disease. The global health status of the study population was 61.9 (19.3). For functional scales, patients with breast cancer scored the highest for social functioning (79.5, 26.2), and the lowest for role functioning (76.2, 28.1). For symptom scales, patients with breast cancer indicated the highest burden for insomnia (36.9, 33.6), pain (34.8, 31.1), fatigue (34.8, 22.4) and financial difficulties (31.1, 32.8).

Conclusions: Breast cancer survivors still have impaired QOL even after acute treatment, and most warrant continued supportive therapy. Some issues, especially fatigue, insomnia and pain, will benefit from cancer rehabilitative services.

Level of Evidence: Level III

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PM&R Meeting Abstracts - https://pmrjabstracts.org/abstract/assessment-of-quality-of-life-in-breast-cancer-patients-in-an-east-asian-community-based-cancer-rehabilitation-program/