IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v17y2020i23p8896-d453628.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Study of Chemotherapy-Induced Cognitive Impairment in Women with Breast Cancer

Author

Listed:
  • Blanca Rodríguez Martín

    (Medical Oncology Service, Salamanca University Hospital, 37007 Salamanca, Spain)

  • Eduardo José Fernández Rodríguez

    (Medical Oncology Service, Salamanca University Hospital, 37007 Salamanca, Spain
    Nursing and Physiotherapy Department, University of Salamanca, 37007 Salamanca, Spain)

  • María Isabel Rihuete Galve

    (Medical Oncology Service, Salamanca University Hospital, 37007 Salamanca, Spain
    Nursing and Physiotherapy Department, University of Salamanca, 37007 Salamanca, Spain)

  • Juan Jesús Cruz Hernández

    (Medical Oncology Service, Salamanca University Hospital, 37007 Salamanca, Spain
    Medicine Department, University of Salamanca, 37007 Salamanca, Spain)

Abstract

Background: Oncology patients experience a large number of symptoms and, those referring to cognitive performance has an ever-increasing importance in clinical practice, due to the increase in survival rates and interest in the patient’s quality of life. The studies reviewed showed that chemotherapy-related cognitive impairment might occur in 15 and 50% of oncology patients. The main objective of this research was to study the impact of chemotherapy on the cognitive function of patients with locoregional breast cancer. Method: Analytical, prospective, longitudinal study using three measures, unifactorial intrasubject design, non-probability, and random selection sampling. The sample comprised women newly diagnosed with locoregional breast cancer in stages I, II, IIIA who received chemotherapy at the University Hospital of Salamanca (Complejo Asistencial Universitario de Salamanca), randomly selected for three years. Semi-structured interviews were conducted, and anxiety and depression (Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale, HAD); quality of life (QLQ-BR23 scale) and the following cognitive variables were assessed—processing speed, attention, memory, and executive functions (subtests of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale and the Trail Making Test). Results: The final sample size included 151 participants; 23 were excluded. A decline in cognitive performance was observed in patients, which did not completely recover two months after chemotherapy was completed. Additionally, worse cognitive performance was observed in patients with anxious or depressive symptoms. There was a negative impact on the quality of life. Conclusion: Chemotherapy had an impact on the cognitive performance of oncology patients in most cognitive domains studied.

Suggested Citation

  • Blanca Rodríguez Martín & Eduardo José Fernández Rodríguez & María Isabel Rihuete Galve & Juan Jesús Cruz Hernández, 2020. "Study of Chemotherapy-Induced Cognitive Impairment in Women with Breast Cancer," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(23), pages 1-13, November.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:23:p:8896-:d:453628
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/23/8896/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/23/8896/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:23:p:8896-:d:453628. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.