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Breast Cancer Research and Treatment
Published in: Breast Cancer Research and Treatment 1/2013

01-07-2013 | Epidemiology

Weight, inflammation, cancer-related symptoms and health-related quality of life among breast cancer survivors

Authors: Ikuyo Imayama, Catherine M. Alfano, Marian L. Neuhouser, Stephanie M. George, Ashley Wilder Smith, Richard N. Baumgartner, Kathy B. Baumgartner, Leslie Bernstein, Ching-Yun Wang, Catherine Duggan, Rachel Ballard-Barbash, Anne McTiernan

Published in: Breast Cancer Research and Treatment | Issue 1/2013

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Abstract

Maintaining weight is important for better prognosis of breast cancer survivors. The associations between weight and cancer-related symptoms are not known. We examined associations among weight, weight change, inflammation, cancer-related symptoms, and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in a cohort of stage 0-IIIA breast cancer survivors. Participants were recruited on average 6 months (2–12 months) after diagnosis. Height, weight, and C-reactive protein (CRP) were assessed at approximately 30 months post-diagnosis; cancer-related symptoms (chest wall and arm symptoms, vasomotor symptoms, urinary incontinence, vaginal symptoms, cognition/mood problems, sleep, sexual interest/function), and HRQOL (SF-36) were assessed at approximately 40 months post-diagnosis. Weight was measured at baseline in a subset. Data on 661 participants were evaluable for body mass index (BMI); 483 were evaluable for weight change. We assessed associations between BMI (<25.0, 25.0–29.9, ≥30.0 kg/m2), post-diagnosis weight change (lost ≥5 %, weight change <5 %, gained ≥5 %), and CRP (tertile) with cancer-related symptoms and HRQOL using analysis of covariance. Higher symptoms scores indicate more frequent or severe symptoms. Higher HRQOL scores indicate better HRQOL. Compared with those with BMI <25 kg/m2, women with BMI ≥30 kg/m2 had the following scores: increased for arm symptoms (+25.0 %), urinary incontinence (+40.0 %), tendency to nap (+18.9 %), and poorer physical functioning (−15.6 %, all p < 0.05). Obese women had lower scores in trouble falling asleep (−9.9 %; p < 0.05). Compared with weight change <5 %, participants with ≥5 % weight gain had lower scores in physical functioning (−7.2 %), role-physical (−15.5 %) and vitality (−11.2 %), and those with weight loss ≥5 % had lower chest wall (−33.0 %) and arm symptom scores (−35.5 %, all p < 0.05). Increasing CRP tertile was associated with worse scores for chest wall symptoms, urinary incontinence, physical functioning, role-physical, vitality and physical component summary scores (all P trend < 0.05). Future studies should examine whether interventions to maintain a healthy weight and reduce inflammation could alleviate cancer-related symptoms and improve HRQOL.
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Metadata
Title
Weight, inflammation, cancer-related symptoms and health-related quality of life among breast cancer survivors
Authors
Ikuyo Imayama
Catherine M. Alfano
Marian L. Neuhouser
Stephanie M. George
Ashley Wilder Smith
Richard N. Baumgartner
Kathy B. Baumgartner
Leslie Bernstein
Ching-Yun Wang
Catherine Duggan
Rachel Ballard-Barbash
Anne McTiernan
Publication date
01-07-2013
Publisher
Springer US
Published in
Breast Cancer Research and Treatment / Issue 1/2013
Print ISSN: 0167-6806
Electronic ISSN: 1573-7217
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-013-2594-y

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