Fatigue and Quality of Life of Women Undergoing Chemotherapy or Radiotherapy for Breast Cancer

OBJECTIVE To examine fatigue and quality of life (QOL) inbreast cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy or radiotherapy.METHODS A self-report survey derived from the Chineseversion of Brief Fatigue Inventory, the Functional Assessmentof Chronic Illness Therapy for Breast Cancer, and the MedicalOutcomes Study Social Support Survey. Descriptive statisticswas used to examine the intensity of fatigue and the prevalenceof severe fatigue. Multivariate analysis of variance was used todetermine factors that affect the five domains of QOL among theparticipants.RESULTS The majority of the participants (n = 261) perceiveda mild level of fatigue, but 35.6% of them suffered severe fatigue.Fatigue had a significantly negative association with all domainsof QOL except social/family wellbeing. The participants whowere receiving chemotherapy, undergoing curative treatment andhaving inadequate social support were more likely to have poorerQOL in all five domains (after adjustment for age).CONCLUSION Although the majority of the participantsexperienced a mild level of fatigue, there was a substantial groupof breast cancer patients who perceived their fatigue as severe. Thefindings of this study showed that fatigue had a detrimental effecton the various aspects of the participants’ QOL. Demographic andclinical characteristics of breast cancer patients who were at riskof getting poorer QOL were identified. The results of the studydemonstrate that we should enhance healthcare professionals’awareness of the importance of symptom assessment, andprovide them with information for planning effective symptom-management strategies among this study population.