Introduction: This study aimed to assess the impact of late treatment toxicity (especially radiotherapy toxicity), chemoradiotherapy treatment type (concurrent or sequential), depression and anxiety on overall, physical and emotional quality of life (QoL) in long-term breast cancer survivors. Method. We assessed 117 patients (mean follow-up since the end of treatment = 8.1 years) for late radiotherapy toxicity (LENT-SOMA scale), patient and doctor ratings of breast cosmetic outcomes, QoL (EORTC QLQ-C30), depression and anxiety (Hospital and Anxiety Depression scale).
Results: In univariate analyses, factors associated with significantly decreased QoL were: use of sequential treatment and decreased overall QoL (P = 0.002) and emotional QoL (P = 0.02) ; few radiotherapy late toxicity symptoms (pain and decreased physical QoL, P = 0.01 ; fibrosis and decreased emotional QoL, P = 0.04) ; probable depression or probable anxiety and decreased overall, physical and emotional QoL (P ≤ 0.005). In multivariate analyses, probable depression and probable anxiety were the most stronger predictors for decreased QoL in the overall, physical and emotional domains (P ≤ 0.02).
Conclusion: Improving screening for and treatment of depression and anxiety might improve QoL in long-term breast cancer survivors.