Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this study was to document the psychological well-being of a group of women with invasive breast cancer (BC) on an average of nearly 2 years after their diagnosis.
Methods
Participants were women in the Medical Benefits Fund Australia Limited Foundation Health and Wellbeing after Breast Cancer Study, a cohort study of 1,684 women recruited within 12 months of their diagnosis with invasive BC, who completed their first annual follow-up questionnaire. Psychological well-being was measured using the Psychological General Well Being Index questionnaire (PGWB) in women with BC.
Results
The PGWB questionnaire was completed by 1,589 women on an average of 92 weeks after their BC diagnosis, of whom 46 had evidence of active disease. PGWB total scores for all age groups of the BC cohort were lower than community-based norms (p < 0.001 for age groups ≥70, 60–<70, 50–60; p = 0.002 for age group 40–<50 and p = 0.05 for age group <40). PGWB total scores for the BC cohort were positively associated with age (p < 0.001) and living with others (p < 0.01) and inversely associated with active disease (p < 0.001) and education beyond secondary school (p = 0.03). For the domain of anxiety, there was no statistically significant association with living with others but an inverse association with education beyond school.
Conclusion
A higher level of education may be associated with increased anxiety and lower well-being. Social support is particularly important for women with BC who are known to live alone.
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Acknowledgements
This study was funded by the MBF Foundation, the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (Grant no. 219279), Novartis Oncology Australia, the L.E.W. Carty Trust, the Jack and Robert Smorgon Families Foundation, Connie and Craig Kimberley and Roy Morgan Research.
The authors wish to thank the study participants and the members of our Study Advisory Group: Dr. Jacquie Chirgwin, A/Professor John Collins, Professor Graham Giles, Mr. Peter Gregory, Mr. Stewart Hart, Miss Suzanne Neil, Ms. Onella Stagoll and Mrs. Avis McPhee.
We thank Melisa Bagnato and Julie de Crespigny from The Cancer Council Victoria for their contribution to recruitment. We also wish to thank Breast Cancer Network Australia for their review of the study questionnaire. Finally, we thank Professor Graham Giles, Director of the Victorian Cancer Registry, for his ongoing support of this study.
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Bell, R.J., Lijovic, M., La China, M. et al. Psychological well-being in a cohort of women with invasive breast cancer nearly 2 years after diagnosis. Support Care Cancer 18, 921–929 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-009-0726-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-009-0726-z