Table 2 A list of reviews covering local, systemic treatments and side-effects and quality of life in breast cancer patients (2008–2018)
From: Health-related quality of life in breast cancer patients: review of reviews from 2008 to 2018
Authors [References] | Year | Main focus | Description/analysis | No. of databases | No. of included studies | Performed QA | Risk of bias assessment | Result(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lemieux et al. [27] | 2008 | Effects of Chemotherapy-induced alopecia on QOL | Review | 5 | 38 | No | No | Hair loss consistently ranked amongst the most troublesome side effects, was described as distressing, and may affect the body image |
Cella and Fallowfiel [28] | 2008 | Side-effects of endocrine therapy and QOL | Review | NA | 6 | No | No | Starting with better QOL, which should lead to better adherence, will result in better patient outcomes |
Buijs et al. [29] | 2008 | Endocrine treatments for breast cancer and HRQOL | Review | NA | NA | No | No | HRQOL mostly is severely influenced by chemotherapy and part of these symptoms may be lasting, especially when associated with the induction of premature menopause. The varying side effect profiles of tamoxifen and aromatase inhibitors did not lead to significant difference in overall HRQOL |
Pockaj et al. [30] | 2009 | QOL after breast surgery | Review | NA | NA | No | No | Better preoperative counseling, informed decision-making, and appropriate interventions will lead to improved QOL |
Reimer and Gerber [31] | 2010 | Impact of local or systemic treatments on QOL in the elderly early-breast cancer patients | Review | PubMed | 18 | No | No | Overall QOL was maintained or improved |
Devi et al. [32] | 2011 | QOL of women during and up to ten years after treatment for breast cancer | Systematic review | 9 | 11 qualitative studies | Yes | No | Breast cancer diagnosis and its treatment can have a significant effect on several domains of women’s QOL |
Pinto and de Azambuja [33] | 2011 | Symptoms in BCS | Review | NA | NA | No | No | The most common symptoms affecting BCS were fatigue, insomnia, depression, cognitive dysfunction, reproductive and menopausal symptoms and lymphedema |
Howard-Anderson et al. [34] | 2012 | QOL, menopausal symptoms and fertility concerns, and behavioral health outcomes in younger patients | Systematic review | PubMed | 28 | No | No | Younger women experienced concerns on premature menopause, menopausal symptoms and infertility that had a role in the level of distress after treatment. Health outcomes in younger ones include weight gain and physical inactivity |
Kaviani et al. [35] | 2013 | Type of surgery and QOL | Narrative review | NA | NA | No | No | QOL had a better score for oncoplastic breast surgery in comparison with mastectomy or BCT |
Orsaria et al. [36] | 2014 | Nodal status assessment and QOL | Review | NA | NA | No | No | Quality results in breast cancer surgery need to generate oncological safety devoid of complications through renewed clinical experience |
Tsoi et al. [37] | 2014 | Tissue-expander/implant vs. autologous abdominal tissue breast reconstruction | Systematic review | 5 | 15 | Yes | Yes | There is some weak evidence that tissue-expander/implant reconstruction becomes a less favorable approach in terms of patient satisfaction after mastectomy |
Taghian et al. [38] | 2014 | Impact of lymphedema on QOL | Review | PubMed | NA | No | No | Lymphedema remains a significant QOL issue which affected woman’s physical, psychological, and emotional well-being |
Sodergren et al. [39] | 2015 | The side effects associated with targeted therapies used in the adjuvant and metastatic settings for HER2+ | Systematic review | 5 | 18 | No | No | Compared with conventional cytotoxics, targeted therapies are delivered over longer periods of time and present unique and often extensive side-effect profiles. Diarrhoea and skin rash as particularly prevalent anti-HER2 inhibitor side effects |
Kameo and Sawada [40] | 2016 | QOL and adverse reactions of chemotherapy | Integrative review | 5 | 50 | NA | NA | Multidisciplinary and thinking on the individual vulnerabilities should be considered when evaluating adverse reaction and QOL |
Mioranza et al. [41] | 2016 | The impact of adjuvant endocrine therapy in early breast cancer on QOL | Review | NA | NA | No | No | Impact of adjuvant endocrine therapies on HRQOL was not comparable since they used different QOL instruments |
Razdan et al. [42] | 2016 | Quality of life among patients after bilateral prophylactic mastectomy | Systematic review | 6 | 22 | Yes | No | Post-BPM, patients are satisfied with the outcomes and report high psychosocial well-being and positive body image. Sexual well-being and somatosensory function are most negatively affected. Vulnerability, psychological distress and preoperative cancer distress are significant negative predictors of quality of life and body image post-BPM |
Chalasani [43] | 2017 | Optimizing QOL in patients with hormone receptor-positive metastatic breast cancer | Review | NA | NA | No | No | Patients with HR-positive disease may receive maximum clinical benefit from endocrine therapy while optimizing QOL |
Garrido-Oyarzun and Castelo-Branco [44] | 2017 | Use of hormone therapy for menopausal symptoms and QOL in survivors | Review | NA | NA | No | No | The management of menopausal symptoms and QOL of patients treated for breast cancer remains an important problem without an optimal solution |
Marta et al. [45] | 2017 | QOL in patients treated with radiation therapy | Systematic review | PubMed | 353 | No | No | Significant benefit in HRQOL was often reported when a positive primary outcome was reported |
Zhou et al. [46] | 2017 | Impact of endocrine monotherapy and in combination with targeted therapy on QOL | Systematic review | 3 databases and key conferences | 11 | No | No | Users of both treatments experienced similar QOL in the first-line and ET-failure setting relative to patients on ET mono. Moreover, these users experienced better QOL outcomes in some domains in the ET-failure setting relative to ET mono users |
Mileski et al. [47] | 2017 | QOL considerations during cancer treatment in invasive ductal carcinoma patients | Systematic review | PubMed | 9 | No | No | The most prevalent positive QOL factors included patient expectations, decreased side effects, and increased survival rate. The most prevalent negative QOL factors included treatment, specific side effects and decreased quality of life |
Platt and Zhong [48] | 2017 | Patient-centered breast reconstruction based on health-related QOL evidence | Review | NA | NA | No | No | Both immediate and delayed breast reconstruction increased satisfaction and QOL after reconstruction, and both groups have reported similar satisfaction and QOL scores at long-term follow-up |
Rivera et al. [49] | 2018 | Chemotherapy-associated peripheral neuropathy | Systematic review | 4 | 60 | Yes | No | Neuropathic symptoms persisted in 11.0% to more than 80% of participants at one to three years following treatment. There is a paucity of data describing persistent PN in ESBC patients |
Xiao et al. [50] | 2018 | Effects of adjuvant endocrine therapy on the QOL of post-menopausal women with non-metastatic ER+ | Systematic review | 3 | 13 | Yes | No | Most studies found no differences between tamoxifen and aromatase inhibitor groups in terms of global QOL. The QOL of post-menopausal women is unlikely to be adversely affected by long-term use of adjuvant endocrine therapy |
Yee et al. [51] | 2018 | Radiation-induced skin toxicity in breast cancer patients | Systematic review | NA | 96 | Yes | No | Methods including simultaneous integrated boost, accelerated partial breast irradiation, and prone positioning may cause less radiation dermatitis than conventional treatments |
Cheng et al. [52] | 2018 | QOL of elderly patients with solid tumors undergoing adjuvant cancer therapy | Systematic review | 5 | 4 | Yes | Yes | Adjuvant chemotherapy and radiotherapy may not have detrimental effects on QOL in most elderly patients with solid tumors |
Muller et al. [53] | 2018 | Impact of manual lymphatic drainage on the HRQOL | Systematic review | 6 | 8 | Yes | Yes | No studies reported reductions in HRQOL, or severe adverse events after MLD |
Jeffs et al. [54] | 2018 | Effectiveness of decongestive treatments on excess arm volume and patient-centered outcomes in women with early breast cancer-related arm lymphedema | Systematic review | 3 | 7 | Yes | Yes | Weak evidence for the impact of decongestive lymphedema treatment did not allow any conclusions to be drawn about the most effective treatment to be offered when patients with early breast cancer first present for treatment |