Quality of Life and Prolonged Symptoms in Korean Breast Cancer Survivors

Conclusions Quality of life was lower in Korean BCS than comparable studies in the United States, although participants received care at a premiere medical center. Depressive symptoms and anxiety were common and did not taper off over the 5 years after diagnosis, unlike BCS elsewhere. Korean survivors experienced significant physical fatigability, much higher than reported in a US study of mixed male and female cancer survivors. Overwork was not a significant predictor of QOL, although 30% of employed women reported working 45 to 90 hours weekly. Implications for Practice Findings demonstrate the importance of continued efforts to mitigate these symptoms in clinical survivorship care, as well as future research, to provide avenues for improving QOL for BCS, particularly in Korea.
Source: Cancer Nursing - Category: Nursing Tags: ARTICLES: ONLINE ONLY Source Type: research