The quality of life of Brazilian disease-free survivors of breast cancer.

The objective of this study was to compare the quality of life among women who survived breast cancer and women who have not had the disease and to identify associated factors. It is cross-sectional study in which the comparison group involves the survivors of breast cancer aged between 40 and 69 years. 154 women were included, 70 with breast cancer and 84 without the disease. The SF-36 was used to evaluate the quality of life. The chi-square test and multivariate linear models were used to compare groups. The estimated mean physical and mental components were significantly better for the group who survived the disease (51.10 and 52.25, respectively) compared to those without cancer (47.26 and 47.93, respectively). The study indicates that survivors of breast cancer had a better quality of life compared to women without the disease.