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Comparison of subgroups of breast cancer patients on pain and co-occurring symptoms following chemotherapy

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Abstract

Purpose

The purposes of this study, in a sample of women with breast cancer receiving chemotherapy (CTX), were to identify subgroups of women with distinct experiences with the symptom cluster of pain, fatigue, sleep disturbance, and depressive symptoms and evaluate differences in demographic and clinical characteristics, differences in psychological symptoms, and differences in pain characteristics among these subgroups.

Methods

Patients completed symptom questionnaires in the week following CTX administration. Latent class profile analysis (LCPA) was used to determine the patient subgroups.

Results

Three subgroups were identified: 140 patients (35.8 %) in the “low,” 189 patients (48.3 %) in the “moderate,” and 62 patients (15.9 %) in the “all high” latent class. Patients in the all high class had a lower functional status, a higher comorbidity profile, a higher symptom burden, and a poorer quality of life.

Conclusions

Study findings provide evidence of the utility of LCPA to explain inter-individual variability in the symptom experience of patients undergoing CTX. The ability to characterize subgroups of patients with distinct symptom experiences allows for the identification of high-risk patients and may guide the design of targeted interventions that are tailored to an individual’s symptom profile.

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Acknowledgements

This study was funded by the National Cancer Institute (CA134900). Dr. Miaskowski is an American Cancer Society (ACS) Clinical Research Professor and has a K05 award from the National Cancer Institute (CA168960). Dr. Langford was supported by a Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program Postdoctoral Fellowship.

Conflict of interest

The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare. The authors had primary control over all of the data and agree to allow the journal to review the date if requested.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physiological Nursing, School of Nursing, University of California, 2 Koret Way-N631Y, San Francisco, CA, 94143-0610, USA

    Dale J. Langford, Steven M. Paul, Bruce Cooper, Kord M. Kober, Judy Mastick, Kathryn A. Lee, Bradley E. Aouizerat & Christine Miaskowski

  2. School of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Michelle Melisko & Jon D. Levine

  3. College of Nursing, New York University, New York, NY, USA

    Fay Wright, Marilyn J. Hammer & Frances Cartwright

  4. Institute for Human Genetics, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Bradley E. Aouizerat

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  1. Dale J. Langford
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  2. Steven M. Paul
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  3. Bruce Cooper
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  13. Christine Miaskowski
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Correspondence to Christine Miaskowski.

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Langford, D.J., Paul, S.M., Cooper, B. et al. Comparison of subgroups of breast cancer patients on pain and co-occurring symptoms following chemotherapy. Support Care Cancer 24, 605–614 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-015-2819-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-015-2819-1

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