Real-world assessment of quality-of-life in patients with breast cancer treated with adjuvant endocrine therapy

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate quality-of-life (QoL) in breast cancer (BC) patients treated with adjuvant endocrine therapy (AET). Methods: We designed a cross-sectional study of 233 BC patients treated with AET and used the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy - Breast questionnaire. Results: No significant difference was observed between endocrine agents. Duration of AET did not affect QoL. In the entire cohort, multivariate analysis determined age (p = 0.034) and switching treatment from tamoxifen to aromatase inhibitors (p = 0.049) as significant positive coefficients of QoL, while comorbidity (p = 0.072) tended to be associated with lower scores. Education level (p = 0.001) and chemotherapy (p = 0.04) were significant predictors of QoL in the tamoxifen group, while comorbidity (p = 0.04), surgery type (p = 0.02), radiotherapy (p = 0.006) and stage (p = 0.009) had a significant impact on QoL in aromatase inhibitors group. Conclusion: Evaluating the well-being of BC patients by QoL questionnaires is of great importance to identify particular subgroups that may require supportive care. Plain language summary Breast cancer (BC) remains the most common cancer among women worldwide. Hormone receptor-positive (estrogen receptor- and/or progesterone receptor-positive) BC represents 70% of all cases. Advances in the treatment of disease lead to improved patient survival. As a result, quality-of-life (QoL) becomes a major concern in clinical practice. This study aimed to assess the impact of socio-demographic, clinical and treatment-related factors on QoL among patients with BC treated with adjuvant endocrine therapy. We used the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy - Breast questionnaire to evaluate QoL. In the entire cohort, multivariate analysis determined age and switching treatment from tamoxifen to aromatase inhibitors to be significant positive coefficients of QoL, while comorbidity tended to be associated with lower scores. Education level and chemotherapy were significant determinants of QoL in the tamoxifen group, while comorbidity, surgery type, radiotherapy and disease stage had a significant impact on QoL in the aromatase inhibitor group. These findings can be utilized to identify certain subgroups that may need greater supportive care.