J Breast Cancer.  2012 Dec;15(4):449-453. 10.4048/jbc.2012.15.4.449.

Health-Related Quality of Life in Breast Cancer Patients with Lymphedema Who Survived More than One Year after Surgery

• Lee SH
• Min YS
• Park HY
• Jung TD

• KMID: 2286443
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4048/jbc.2012.15.4.449

Abstract

PURPOSE
To identify the influence of lymphedema on health-related quality of life (HRQOL) more than 1 year after breast cancer surgery.
METHODS
Ninety-six breast cancer patients who survived more than 1 year after surgery and 104 members of the general population were recruited. Patients were divided into 2 groups according to the presence of lymphedema. HRQOL was evaluated with the Short-Form 36-Item Health Survey.
RESULTS
There were no statistically significant differences in any scales between groups: groups of breast cancer survivors with and without lymphedema. Compared with the general population, breast cancer survivors had lower quality of life scores in all scales, although the vitality and mental health scales did not differ from chance variation at the 5% level.
CONCLUSION
In this study, the presence of lymphedema in breast cancer patients who survived over 1 year after surgery might not affect the quality of life. However quality of life of breast cancer survivors is lower than in general population except for some mental health components.

Keyword

Breast neoplasms; Lymphedema; Quality of life

MeSH Terms

Breast
Breast Neoplasms
Humans
Lymphedema
Mental Health
Quality of Life
Survivors
Weights and Measures

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