Upper-body morbidity following breast cancer treatment is common, may persist longer-term and adversely influences quality of life

Table 3 Personal and treatment-related characteristics associated with declines in upper-body function between six- and 18-months post-surgery*

	Odds of a Decline in UBSE Decline n = 41 (22.8%)				Odds of a Decline in DASH Decline n = 76 (33.8%)
Characteristics ^†	n	Bivariate OR	Adjusted OR (95% CI)	p-value	n	Bivariate OR	Adjusted OR (95% CI)	p-value
Age				0.03				0.05
< 50	61	1.00	1.00 ref		80	1.00	1.00 ref
50+	122	1.48	2.81 (1.14, 6.97)		152	2.35	1.94 (1.01, 3.75)
Income				0.04				0.03
> $52,000 (include miss)	88	1.00	1.00 ref		104	1.00	1.00 ref
$26,000-$51,999	50	0.90	1.76 (0.67, 4.60)		65	1.71	1.90 (0.98, 3.68)
< $26,000	45	1.52	3.31 (1.29, 8.53)		63	2.47	2.46 (1.25, 4.85)
Treated on Dominant Side				0.01				0.01
No	88	1.00	1.00 ref		118	1.00	1.00 ref
Yes	95	2.40	2.56 (1.20, 5.42)		114	1.74	2.15 (1.24, 3.73)
Surgery				0.06
CLE	138	1.00	1.00 ref
Mastectomy	45	1.95	2.25 (0.98, 5.21)
Lymph Nodes Removed				0.35				0.02
None	24	1.00	1.00 ref		33	1.00	1.00 ref
1 to 19	137	3.38	2.93 (0.68, 12.67)		166	2.22	2.63 (1.07, 6.45)
20+	22	2.77	2.65 (0.43, 16.38)		33	2.69	4.81 (1.64, 14.14)
Lymphoedema								0.21
No					154	1.00	1.00 ref
Yes					18	1.73	2.41 (0.90, 6.44)
Missing					60	1.27	1.15 (0.62, 2.11)

Abbreviations: UBSE, upper-body strength and endurance; DASH, Disability of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand questionnaire (0-100 scale, lower score = better function); CI, Confidence Interval; ref, referent category against which all others are compared.
* Results have been appropriately weighted (< 50 years:1.0; > 50 years:1.3) for over sampling of younger women and adjusted for baseline upper-body function values.
^† All characteristics measured at baseline, six-months post-diagnosis.

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