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Symptom clusters among breast cancer patients in relation to chemotherapy cycles: a longitudinal study

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Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this study was to identify symptom clusters in breast cancer patients undergoing adjuvant chemotherapy.

Methods

A prospective longitudinal study was conducted. And a sample of 620 breast cancer patients receiving adjuvant chemotherapy was recruited using convenience sampling from May 20, 2020, to March 31, 2021. Data were collected eight times: the first chemotherapy cycle (T1) to the eighth cycle of chemotherapy (T8). Exploratory factor analysis was used to explore the composition of symptom clusters.

Results

Symptoms with an incidence of less than 20% were deleted and the remaining symptoms were included in the factor analysis. Three common factors were extracted in T1, including gastrointestinal symptom cluster, emotional and psychological symptom cluster, and menopausal symptom cluster. Five common factors were extracted from T2 to T7, including gastrointestinal symptom cluster, emotional and psychological symptom cluster, neurological symptom cluster, menopausal symptom cluster, and self-image disorder symptom cluster. Four common factors were extracted at T8, including gastrointestinal symptom cluster, emotional and psychological symptom cluster, neurological symptom cluster, and menopausal symptom cluster.

Conclusion

Breast cancer patients undergoing adjuvant chemotherapy experience multiple symptoms and different symptom clusters in different chemotherapy cycles. It is a benefit for health care providers to better understand and care for breast cancer patients. It will also help such women to manage concurrent symptoms ahead to promote their quality of life.

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Data availability

The data are not publicly available due to privacy or ethical restrictions.

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Funding

This research was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China(grant number 72174042).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Xiangya Nursing School, Central South University, 172 Tong Zi Po Road, Changsha, 410013, Hunan, China

    Ruzhen Luo & Siyuan Tang

  2. School of Nursing, Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 10 Poyanghu Road, West Area, Tuanbo New Town, Jinghai District, Tianjin, 301617, China

    Hongbo Chen & Yanhui Liu

  3. School of Nursing, Peking University, 38 Xueyuan Rd, Haidian District, Beijing, 100191, China

    Hongyu Sun

  4. The First Department of Mammary Gland, Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute & Hospital, Tianjin, China

    Yuhong Chen

Authors
  1. Ruzhen Luo
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  2. Hongbo Chen
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  3. Yanhui Liu
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  4. Hongyu Sun
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  5. Siyuan Tang
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  6. Yuhong Chen
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Contributions

Conceptualization: Ruzhen Luo; methodology: Ruzhen Luo; formal analysis and investigation: Ruzhen Luo, Yuhong Chen, Hongbo Chen; writing (original draft preparation): Ruzhen Luo; writing (review and editing): Ruzhen Luo, Hongyu Sun, Siyuan Tang; funding acquisition: Hongyu Sun; resources: Yanhui Liu; supervision: Yanhui Liu.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Yanhui Liu, Hongyu Sun or Siyuan Tang.

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This study was approved by the institutional review boards of Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

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All participants provided informed consent.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Luo, R., Chen, H., Liu, Y. et al. Symptom clusters among breast cancer patients in relation to chemotherapy cycles: a longitudinal study. Support Care Cancer 31, 573 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-023-08038-1

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