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The cognitive effects of chemotherapy in post-menopausal breast cancer patients: a controlled longitudinal study

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An Erratum to this article was published on 06 January 2010

Abstract

Studies suggest that adjuvant chemotherapy for early stage breast cancer (BC) is associated with cognitive impairment related to attention, memory, and visuospatial functioning. However, other studies have failed to confirm that relationship. We report one of the first longitudinal, controlled studies of cognitive effects of chemotherapy in older post-menopausal women. Sixty-one post-menopausal women with non-metastatic BC were administered neuropsychological tests before adjuvant therapy (Time1), six months after treatment (Time2), and at a final 6-month follow-up (Time3). Thirty women were treated with chemotherapy; thirty-one women who received no chemotherapy were controls. Cognitive domains measured included motor, language, attention/concentration/working memory, visuospatial, and memory (verbal and visual). Time-by-treatment interaction was significant in the motor domain (P = 0.007) with poorer performance in women treated with chemotherapy. For the other domains, scores did not significantly vary over time by group. In post-menopausal women, chemotherapy was not associated with changes in cognitive function in areas reported by BC survivors: attention, memory, and information processing. Motor slowing in women treated with chemotherapy could be secondary to peripheral neuropathy rather than an indication of more general declines in cognitive processing. Future studies should control for the independent effects of slowed motor functioning when looking to study possible chemotherapy related cognitive processing deficits.

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Acknowledgments

Dr. Tager is the recipient of a grant from the NCI (RO3-CA96422) and a research grant from the Avon Products Foundation. Dr. Hershman is the recipient of an American Society of Clinical Oncology Advanced Clinical Research Award and a K07 Award from the NCI (CA95597).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Behavioral Medicine Program, Department of Psychiatry, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University Medical Center, 1150 St. Nicholas Ave, Suite 1-121, New York, NY, USA

    Felice A. Tager, Paula S. McKinley, Claire R. Golden, Margery E. Frosch, Ulya Habif, Margaret M. Mulligan & Ivy S. Chen

  2. Department of Medicine, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY, USA

    Dawn L. Hershman

  3. Department of Surgical Oncology, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY, USA

    Mahmoud El-Tamer

  4. Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY, USA

    Felice A. Tager, Paula S. McKinley & Dawn L. Hershman

  5. Departments of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY, USA

    Ying Keun K. Cheung & Dawn L. Hershman

  6. Department of Surgical Oncology, New York University Medical Center, New York, NY, USA

    Freya R. Schnabel

  7. Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Yixin Fang

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  1. Felice A. Tager
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Correspondence to Felice A. Tager.

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An erratum to this article can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10549-009-0684-7

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Tager, F.A., McKinley, P.S., Schnabel, F.R. et al. The cognitive effects of chemotherapy in post-menopausal breast cancer patients: a controlled longitudinal study. Breast Cancer Res Treat 123, 25–34 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-009-0606-8

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