Title : Quality of life and lifestyle choices of female breast cancer patients presenting at a cancer treatment centre in Ghana
Abstract:
Background: Breast cancer mostly occurs in women. The disease and types of treatment provided to breast cancer patients can affect their quality of life (QoL) and lifestyle choices. Although several studies on breast cancer and its associated impact on patients have been conducted globally, only few studies have reported on the QoL and lifestyle choices of breast cancer patients in Ghana.
Aim: This study assessed the QoL and lifestyle choices of breast cancer patients at the Sweden Ghana Medical Centre (SGMC).
Methods: A quantitative descriptive cross sectional design was employed in this study involving 80 female breast cancer patients who reported to SGMC for chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatment in August 2020. The Functional Assessment Cancer Therapy-Breast (FACT-B) instrument version 4, a lifestyle choices tool employing five QoL domain sub-scales and four lifestyle dimensions, and a researcher made questionnaire were used to evaluate the patients’ QoL and lifestyle choices over a one-month period. The data was analyzed with STATA version 16.
Results: The overall QoL score of 43% for the population suggested moderate to low QoL in their various functional roles. Statistically significant relationships were established between the QoL domains and the treatment options (p=0.000). In particular, patients who received curative radiotherapy and surgery enjoyed the highest QoL scores as measured by their emotional wellbeing (EWB) (62.4±5.4%, p=0.000) and functional wellbeing (FWB) (62.5±5.7%, p=0.006). The FWB domain scores were significantly higher for the surgical procedures lumpectomy, partial mastectomy and complete mastectomy (p=0.027). The highest median scores ≥ 60.0% were recorded for the healthy lifestyles of the patients for all variables, except in partial mastectomy where a lower median score of 52.5% was found. There were no significant relationships between their healthy lifestyles choices and the independent variables (p=± 0.05). Statistically significant (p=0.001) median scores for diet lifestyle choices were found across the age groups, but none in the other variables. The median score in the patients’ personal appearance and social lifestyles were low, except for curative radiotherapy and surgery toes lumpectomy, partial mastectomy and complete mastectomy (p<0.001). Mastectomy adversely impacted their marital relationships with husbands (p=0.136).
Conclusion: Functional well-being was the most enjoyed QoL by the breast cancer patients across the independent variables. Relationships which were statistically significant were established between the QoL domains and the treatment options (p=0.000).
Keywords: Breast Cancer, Quality of Life, Lifestyle Choices, Chemotherapy, Radiotherapy, Breast Prostheses, Mastectomy, Domain Scores, Interquartile Range
