Symptom clusters and quality of life in breast cancer survivors after cancer treatment in a tertiary hospital in Korea
Open accessAbstract
We investigated the symptom clusters and effects of symptom clusters on the quality of life of Korean breast cancer survivors. We recruited 241 breast cancer survivors and collected cross-sectional data on their symptoms. To determine inter-relationships among symptoms, a principal component analysis with varimax rotation was performed based on the patient's symptoms (fatigue, nausea/vomiting, pain, dyspnoea, insomnia, appetite loss, constipation, anxiety, depression, systemic therapy side effects, breast symptoms and arm symptoms). The first symptom cluster consisted of psychological (anxiety and depression) and general (appetite loss, fatigue, insomnia and dyspnoea) symptoms, whereas the second symptom cluster consisted of physical (arm symptom, breast symptom, pain and systemic therapy side effects) and gastrointestinal (nausea/vomiting and constipation) symptoms. Subgroup cluster analysis showed that breast cancer survivors with higher-scoring symptoms had significantly poorer quality of life in both psychological-general symptom cluster and physical-gastrointestinal symptom cluster subgroups, with subgroup-specific patterns. The symptom clusters differed depending on stage and functional status of breast cancer survivors. Breast cancer survivors may have a specific pattern of symptom clusters. Some symptom clusters may have a negative impact on the quality of life. Identifying symptom clusters of breast cancer survivors may have clinical implications by improving symptom management.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Survivors' heightened symptoms have a substantial negative impact on their daily activities, functional status, and quality of life.
“Survivors’ heightened symptoms have a substantial negative impact on their daily activities, functional status, and quality of life [4–6].”
From Symptom experiences in post-treatment cancer survivors: associations with acceptance and commitment therapy constructs. (2021) · cites this paper as [5]
The Discussion (page unavailable) reports that survivors with higher symptom scores had poorer quality of life and that lower symptom scores correlated with better functional status. Table 4 also shows lower physical and role functioning in the higher-symptom groups. The study did not directly measure daily activities or establish that symptoms caused these differences, so the claim's causal wording goes beyond its findings. (LLM, conf=0.84)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
The citation lists haven’t been fetched yet
References 35 · Cited by 41
Research works printed but not linked: 2
- Kim, S. H., Lee, R., & Lee, K. S. (2009). Symptom cluster in patients with breast cancer. Journal of Korean Academy of Adult Nursing, 21, 705-717.
- Lee, J., Cho, M. J., & Kwon, J. S. (2006). Global assessment of functional scale and social and occupational functioning scale. Korean Journal of Psychophamacology, 17, 122-127.
- Authors
- Nho, J.-H., Kim, S.-R., Park, M.-H., & Kweon, S.-S.
- Affiliations
- Jeonbuk National University (KR)
- Korea University (KR)
- Chonnam National University Hwasun Hospital (KR)
- Chonnam National University (KR)
- Corresponding author
- Kweon, Sun-Seog
- Venue
- European Journal of Cancer Care
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2018-09-25
- Volume
- 27
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- e12919
- ISSN
- 0961-5423 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2892702340
- Cited by
- 41
- References
- 35
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 12 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 2
- FWCI
- 1.22
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- European Journal of Cancer Care (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National R&D Program for Cancer Control, Ministry of Health & Welfare, Republic of Korea (1020010)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Oncology › Cancer survivorship and care
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health › Childhood Cancer Survivors' Quality of Life
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pulmonary and Respiratory Medicine › Cancer-related cognitive impairment studies
- Keywords
- breast cancer survivors, symptom clusters, quality of life, fatigue, anxiety, depression, nausea and vomiting, constipation, arm symptoms, breast symptoms, pain, dyspnea, insomnia, appetite loss, symptom management, tumor stage, functional status
- MeSH terms
- Cancer Survivors, Adult, Aged, Anorexia, Anxiety, Breast Neoplasms, Constipation, Cross-Sectional Studies, Depression, Dyspnea, Fatigue, Female, Humans, Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders, Middle Aged, Nausea, Pain, Quality of Life, Syndrome, Vomiting, Cluster Analysis, Principal Component Analysis, Republic of Korea, Tertiary Care Centers
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
