Assessment of Quality of Life of Breast Cancer Survivors Post 5 Years from Surgery: Study from a Community Hospital in India

Background: Breast cancer is the most common cancer afflicting women with an estimated 2.1 million new cases diagnosed globally every year. Breast cancer and its treatment significantly impair the patient’s physical mental health and thereby affect their overall quality of life (QOL). Our aim was to identify differences in long-term QOL between breast conservative surgery (BCS) and modified radical mastectomy (MRM) for early breast cancer among sociodemographic and clinical subgroups of patients. Methods: This prospective observational cohort study was conducted at Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) hospital under Universal Health Coverage scheme. We recruited patients who were surgically treated for breast cancer between 2010 to 2015 and were continuing further treatment or follow-up. Their QOL scores were measured using the 37-item Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy- Breast, Version 4 (FACT-B) questionnaire andwere analysed using Mann-Whitney U test. P value <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Among the 86 patients (46 with BCS and 41 with MRM) included in the study, the mean age was 59 ± 11.5 years with a mean follow-up period of 6.9 years. Functional well-being was significantly better for the BCS group (P<0.01). However, the QOL scores corresponding to physical, social, and emotional well-being as well as body image and attractiveness scores for BCS and MRM at the end of the follow-up period were comparable (p>0.05). Conclusion: Functional well-being was the only component of QOL that was noted to be higher for BCS for our study population. Future work on understanding the behavioural and cognitive components of body image in this patient population is warranted.