The Association between Dietary Patterns and Chemotherapy Side Effects in Patients with Breast Cancer (BrCa)

Abstract

This study aimed to determine the relationship between food pattern and dietary intake before and during chemotherapy with the severity of gastrointestinal side effects, cancer-related fatigue, and chemotherapy-induced pain. This study was performed on 204 patients with breast cancer who were undergoing chemotherapy. Dietary pattern was collected by food frequency questionnaire and dietary intake during chemotherapy using a 24-hour food recall questionnaire. The severity of chemotherapy side effects including nausea, vomiting, constipation, diarrhea, CRF, and pain was also assessed by valid questionnaires. The relationship between dietary pattern and mean score of chemotherapy side effects was calculated using linear regression analysis. Three dietary patterns were extracted from the participants. After adjusting the effect of all possible confounders, no significant relationship was found between the dietary pattern one year before the start of treatment and the mean of chemotherapy side effects severity. Although the mean of daily energy intake with the severity of nausea and vomiting (r = −0.258, P-value <0.01), constipation, fatigue, and pain have a significant inverse relationship. Nutrition education and following a healthy diet are needed to reduce the severity of chemotherapy side effects during this period.

Disclosure Statement

The main author confirms that this manuscript is an honest, accurate, and transparent account of the study being reported. The study was performed, following approval, in accordance with the Ethics Committee of Iran University of Medical Sciences (IR.IUMS.REC.1399.693) and the Helsinki Declaration.

Authors’ contributions

V.S, M.Z., and MH.S contributed in the conception, design, and statistical analysis. V.S., MH.S, H.D., A.S., M.R., C.C., and M.Z contributed to data collection and manuscript drafting. V.S and M.Z supervised the study. All authors approved the final version of the manuscript.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Data Availability Statement

Data are available upon request due to privacy/ethical restrictions.

Consent

All authors of this manuscript declare their consent for the publication and approved the final version of the manuscript.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.