Differences in symptom clusters before and twelve months after breast cancer surgery.

ABSTRACT: PURPOSE:Given the inter-relatedness among symptoms, research efforts are focused on an evaluation of symptom clusters. The purposes of this study were to evaluate for differences in the number and types of menopausal-related symptom clusters assessed prior to and at 12-months after surgery using ratings of occurrence and severity and to evaluate for changes in these symptom clusters over time. METHODS:Prior to and at 12 months after surgery, 392 women with breast cancer completed the Menopausal Symptoms Scale. Exploratory factor analyses were used to identify the symptom clusters. RESULTS:Of the 392 women evaluated, the mean number of symptoms (out of 46) was 13.2 (±8.5) at enrollment and 10.9 (±8.2) at 12 months after surgery. Using occurrence and severity, three symptom clusters were ide

SUBMITTER: Mazor M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5783198 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature