Biopsychosocial and clinical characteristics in patients with resected breast and colon cancer at the beginning and end of adjuvant treatment

Abstract

BackgroundThe aim of this study was to analyze biopsychosocial factors affecting how patients cope with cancer and adjuvant treatment and to appraise psychological distress, coping, perceived social support, quality of life and SDM before and after adjuvant treatment in breast cancer patients compared to colon cancer patients.MethodsNEOcoping is a national, multicenter, cross-sectional, prospective study. The sample comprised 266 patients with colon cancer and 231 with breast cancer. The instruments used were the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI), Mini-Mental Adjustment to Cancer (Mini-MAC), Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS), Shared Decision-Making Questionnaire-Patient (SDM-Q-9) and Physician’s (SDM-Q-Doc), and the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire (EORTC-QLQ).ResultsBreast cancer patients reacted worse to the diagnosis of cancer with more symptoms of anxiety, depression, and somatization, and were less satisfied with their involvement than those with colon cancer (p = 0.003). Participants with colon cancer were older and had more physical symptoms and functional limitations at the beginning of adjuvant treatment, while there were scarcely any differences between the two groups at the end of adjuvancy, at which time both groups suffered greater psychological and physical effects and scored lower on coping strategies, except for anxious preoccupation.ConclusionsBreast cancer patients need more information and involvement of the oncologist in shared decision-making, as well as and more medical and psychological support when beginning adjuvant treatment. Both breast and colon cancer patients may require additional psychological care at the end of adjuvancy.

Quality of Life Among Breast and Colon Cancer Patients Before and After First-Cycle Chemotherapy

“…The influence of chemotherapy as a cancer treatment modality on patient health-related QoL has been widely investigated (Chagani et al, 2017; de Jong et al, 2006; García-García et al, 2019; Mosconi et al, 2002; Sasaki et al, 2017). However, only few studies examined the impact of first-cycle (FC) chemotherapy on their QoL (Charalambous et al, 2017; Hoppe et al, 2013; Tabata et al, 2018), and no study had been conducted among the Saudi population.…”

Psychometric properties of Spanish version of the Mini-Mental Adjustment to Cancer Scale

“…Nevertheless, as suggested by other authors, CA need not necessarily be detrimental ( Bredal, 2010 , Calderón et al, 2018 , Fong and Ho, 2014 ). The CA items describe an active attitude by the patient to avoid thinking about the disease and its implications ( García-García et al, 2019 , Ghanem et al, 2020 ), and that strategy can help them to achieve better affective regulation and foster the use of coping strategies that focus more on the problem. In our sample, CA was positively associated with hope (faith), unlike HH and AP; hence, the use of CA may have had a positive function in our patients, helping to tolerate, minimize, or accept the circumstances that cause them great anxiety.…”

SUNRISE-DI study. The daily sunrise is easier to predict than the benefit of adjuvant treatment in colon cancer

“…Making decisions regarding adjuvant treatment is a nuanced process for the oncologist, fraught with uncertainty, and entails tremendous emotional impact for patients. 1 In the case of stage II colorectal cancer, the benefit derived from adjuvant chemotherapy (CT) remains unknown and, while it is recommended for all patients with stage III tumors, it will be of no benefit for half of them. 2 Therefore, having prognostic and predictive factors aids in deciding on the advisability of adjuvant therapy.…”

“…Finally, the authors justify some of their recommendations in favor of de-escalation by labeling some patients, unwilling to trade the risks for the benefits of the adjuvant CT as fatalistic, using a definition based on data quoted, but never published. 12 Despite the obvious emotional impact of the diagnosis in the patients, 1 it may not be the patients' fatalism but the researchers' overconfidence in the predictive capacity of the 12-RS that determined their recommendations.…”