The type of adjuvant systemic therapy has an impact on Edmonton Symptom Assessment System scores in patients with breast cancer, as reported in a recent retrospective analysis. Triple-negative tumor histology and the outcomes of previous neoadjuvant treatment were related to symptom burden.
Multimodal treatment in breast cancer patients can have side effects, as reported in patient-reported outcomes and health-related quality of life evaluations. This can be attributed to differences in patients’ experiences and physician-scored side effects.
This retrospective review assessed the patient-reported symptoms using Edmonton Symptom Assessment Symptom (ESAS) scores before locoregional radiotherapy. The study findings are published in the journal Strahlentherapie und Onkologie.
Baseline Characteristics
A total of 132 female breast cancer patients were included in the retrospective review. The mean age of the participants was 59 ± 13 years, and the mean body mass index (BMI) was 27.7 ± 5 kg/m2. The majority of the patients had pT1 (n = 53) and pT2 (n = 49) pathological stages of breast cancer. The most important patient-reported issues included sleep problems, fatigue, and pain during movement.
Patient-Reported Symptoms and Edmonton Symptom Assessment System Scores
The analysis indicated two significant correlations between ESAS scores and baseline parameters. The presence of triple-negative breast cancer was significantly associated with a greater symptom burden (p = 0.038). The lowest ESAS scores were present in patients assigned to adjuvant endocrine therapy, followed by patients receiving Her-2-targeting agents without chemotherapy, those who received chemotherapy with or without drugs, and patients who were not administered systemic therapy.
Edmond Symptom Assessment System Domains
Higher ESAS scores were recorded in three domains: pain without moving, pain with moving, and fatigue, in breast cancer patients with triple-negative histology. In the context of adjuvant systemic therapy, higher symptom burden was also found to be associated with pain without moving, pain with moving, and fatigue.
Patient-Reported Symptoms in Prognostically Favorable Tumors
In patients with a prognostically favorable tumor type, the mean anxiety scores were significantly lower compared to patients with T1–T4 pathological staging. These patients also had relatively lower depression scores.
Source:
Nieder, C., Johnsen, S. K., Winther, A. M., & Mannsåker, B. (2024). Patient-reported symptoms before adjuvant locoregional radiotherapy for breast cancer: triple-negative histology impacts the symptom burden. Strahlentherapie Und Onkologie (Print). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00066-024-02224-8
