Depression and quality of life before and after breast cancer diagnosis in older women from the Women's Health Initiative.

ABSTRACT:

Purpose

Distress and reduced quality of life (QOL) are common among people with cancer. No study has compared these variables after breast cancer diagnosis to pre-cancer diagnosis levels.

Methods

Data on women with breast cancer 50 years of age or older (n = 6949) were analyzed from the Women's Health Initiative (1993-2013). Health-related QOL (physical function, mental health) was measured using Rand-36. Depressive symptoms were measured with the six-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale. Assessments occurred before and after the cancer diagnosis. Hierarchical linear modeling compared pre-cancer QOL and depressive symptoms to levels post-diagnosis and tested whether pre-cancer physical activity, stressful life events, sleep disturbance, and pain predicted p

SUBMITTER: Jones SM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4547920 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature