Quality of life in long-term breast cancer survivors – a 10-year longitudinal population-based study

Figures & data

Figure 1. Participant flow chart.

Table I. Characteristics of study population by response status^a.

			Status at 10-year follow-up
	Baseline (N = 387)	Full responders (N = 160)^b	Responders (N = 182)	Non-responders (N = 58)	Deceased (N = 147)	χ2 Test^c (p)
Age (baseline)
−49	106 (27%)	52 (33%)	59 (32%)	19 (33%)	28 (19%)	0.0005/0.26
50–64	161 (42%)	76 (48%)	84 (46%)	21 (36%)	56 (38%)
65 +	120 (31%)	32 (20%)	39 (21%)	18 (31%)	63 (43%)
Mean ± SD (yrs)	57.9 ± 11.8	55.4 ± 10.6	55.6 ± 10.7	56.4 ± 13.2	61.3 ± 11.7
Education
< 10 years	288 (74%)	112 (70%)	128 (70%)	42 (72%)	118 (80%)	0.12/0.63
10 + years	98 (25%)	48 (30%)	54 (30%)	15 (26%)	29 (20%)
Missing	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	1 (2%)	0 (0%)
Stage (baseline)^d
Local	198 (51%)	96 (60%)	107 (59%)	35 (60%)	56 (38%)	0.0003/0.83
Regional	168 (43%)	60 (38%)	71 (39%)	22 (38%)	75 (51%)
Distal	14 (4%)	1 (0.6%)	1 (0.6%)	0 (0%)	13 (9%)
Missing	7 (2%)	3 (2%)	3 (2%)	1 (2%)	3 (2%)
Surgery
Mastectomy	122 (32%)	37 (23%)	44 (24%)	16 (28%)	62 (42%)	0.001/0.49
BCT	222 (57%)	107 (67%)	119 (65%)	34 (59%)	69 (47%)
Other^e	43 (11%)	16 (10%)	19 (10%)	8 (14%)	16 (11%)
Therapy within the 1st year
Axilla dissection	338 (87%)	148 (93%)	170 (93%)	52 (90%)	116 (79%)	0.0004/0.35
Chemotherapy	170 (44%)	75 (47%)	83 (46%)	18 (31%)	69 (47%)	0.10/0.05
Radiation	260 (67%)	120 (75%)	136 (75%)	37 (64%)	87 (59%)	0.01/0.11
Hormonal therapy	235 (61%)	100 (63%)	114 (63%)	34 (59%)	87 (59%)	0.77/0.58
Tumor recurrence	102 (26%)	30 (19%)	36 (20%)	9 (16%)	57 (39%)	< 0.0001/0.47
Global health/QoL at FU1 (Mean ± SD)^f	n.a.	66.2 ± 20.3 (N = 159)	68.7 ± 21.1 (N = 174)	62.6 ± 18.4 (N = 37)	60.3 ± 23.7 (N = 101)	0.007/0.08

BCT, breast conserving therapy; FU 10, 10-year-follow-up; n.a., not available; Non-Resp., non-responders; SD, standard deviation; yrs, years.

^aDue to rounding, percentages might not add up to 100% exactly; ^bParticipants who responded in all follow-ups; ^cFirst test is between responders, non-responders, and deceased; second test is between responders and non-responders; ^dFor χ²-test, categories were local vs. regional and distal; ^eIncluding secondary reconstruction and missing information; ^fFor the analyses of differences in global health/QoL, all responder categories have differing N, as only those participants are included who answered the global health/QoL questions in FU1.

Figure 2. Age-specific quality of life (means and standard errors) of the QLQ-C30 for survivors 10 years past diagnosis and references. Significant differences (p < 0.05) between survivors and references are indicated by a star.

Figure 3. Longitudinal development (means and standard errors) of QLQ-C30 functional scales and global health/QoL for survivors that responded in each follow-up (solid line) and cross-sectional comparisons with references adjusted for age (dots). P-values pertain to differences between survivors and references at each follow-up.

Figure 4. Longitudinal development (means and standard errors) of QLQ-C30 symptom scales and single items for survivors that responded in each follow-up (solid line) and cross-sectional comparisons with references adjusted for age (dots). P-values pertain to differences between survivors and references at each follow-up.

Figure 5. Longitudinal development (means and standard errors) of QLQ-BR23 scales and single items for survivors that responded in each follow-up. P-values pertain to changes in BR23-scores over time.