QUALITY OF LIFE WITH MASTECTOMY FOR BREAST CANCER, IN TERMS OF PATIENTS’ RESPONSES OF SF-36 QUESTIONNAIRE

Abstract

The aim of the study was to describe the quality of life in female patients with mastectomy performed for breast cancer. Material and methods: The study was carried out in Iași, between October 2014 - January 2015, on a sample of 23 patients with mastectomy, using the SF-36 Questionnaire (Short Form-36) in a single visit, with direct questioning of patients; a secondary instrument was a general anamnestic questionnaire referring on age group, area of ​​residence, type of surgery, associated diseases, family history, psycho-emotional traumas. Results: The overall profile of the studied case was: woman of 40-49 years (47.8%), from urban area (82.6%), with a family history of neoplastic pathology (43.5%), with psycho-emotional traumas (73.9%) and a self-estimated general health as “moderate” (26.1%), with “a lot of energy” only “some of the time” (43.5%), “feeling worn out” (43.5%), and "cutting down the amount of time spent on work or other activities” (69.6%), with “moderate” (34.8%) or even “intense” (21.7%) “bodily pain”, “some of the time” feeling “very nervous” (43.5%) and “so down in the dumps that nothing could cheer her up” (39.1%). The strongest correlation was found between the variable “cut down the amount of time spent on work and other activities” as a result of “physical health” (Role-physical items) and “limited in kind of work or other activities” (r=0.8981). Conclusions: Application of SF-36 Questionnaire in female patients with mastectomy for breast cancer highlighted that strenuous and moderate activities were limited than about half of the surveyed cases, somatic pain affecting their work and normal activities and physical and emotional health influenced the social activity of patients for more than half of the lot. It is necessary to extend the study in order to bring relevant data on the quality of life of these patients, in the social, economic and cultural center of Romania.