Quality of Life (QoL) in Postmenopausal Breast Cancer Patients Receiving Adjuvant Hormonal Therapy

Background The primary aim of this study was to compare quality of life of postmenopausal breast cancer women receiving adjuvant hormone therapy with those not receiving. The secondary aims were to investigate impact of vitamin D status and type of hormone therapy (letrozole vs tamoxifen) on quality of life. Settings and Design Tertiary care hospital, prospective study (March 2016 to September 2017). Patients and Methods Study included postmenopausal non-metastatic breast cancer women. Patients were divided in two groups: group 1 (n=120) receiving adjuvant hormone therapy and group 2 (n=93) not receiving hormone therapy. Patients filled Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Breast (FACT-B) QoL questionnaire at enrolment and 6 month later. The scores were compared between the groups. Results Overall basal FACT-G (p=0.004), FACT-B (p=0.003), and all other quality of life subscales scores barring social well-being were significantly better in group 2 {physical well-being (p=0.002), social well-being (p=0.037), emotional well-being (p=0.028), functional well-being (p=<0.001)}. Follow-up scores in all subscales within both group improved significantly (p=<0.001), but significant difference between two groups persisted only for FACT-G (p=0.04), physical well-being (p=0.02), and functional well-being (p=<0.001) subscale. Except for social well-being subscale, vitamin D sufficient patients had significantly better scores than deficient patients. There was no significant difference among patients receiving either letrozole or tamoxifen except for better functional well-being (p=0.005) score in those receiving previous. Conclusions Adjuvant hormonal therapy irrespective of type and vitamin D deficiency contribute to inferior quality of life in postmenopausal breast cancer women.