Latent classes of health-promoting lifestyle in breast cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy in China: A cross-sectional survey.

AIM: To identify the latent classes of a health-promoting lifestyle and examine the associations of latent class profile with individual characteristics of breast cancer undergoing chemotherapy in China in order to provide some insights and recommendations for targeted and individualized health education of health-promoting lifestyle.

DESIGN: A descriptive cross-sectional survey design was used for this work.

METHODS: A total of 197 patients with breast cancer undergoing chemotherapy recruited from the Breast Cancer Outpatient Chemotherapy Clinic of a Grade 3A hospital were surveyed. Health-promoting lifestyle was measured using the Health Promotion Lifestyle Profile-II: Chinese Version Short (HPLP-IICR). Latent class analysis was used to examine respondents' health-promoting lifestyle patterns. Associations between the latent class membership and individual characteristics were examined using multinomial logistic regression.

RESULTS: Four latent classes were identified: Class 1-Good Nutrition and Poor Physical Activity, Class 2-Poor Health Responsibility and Nutrition, Class 3-Active Health-Promoting Lifestyle, and Class 4-Medium Spiritual Growth and Poor Other Dimensions. Younger respondents and respondents with a higher score in anxiety and depression were more likely to be classified in Class 4 rather than Class 1 or 3. Respondents with low exercise self-efficacy were more likely to be classified in Class 4 than the others. Respondents in Class 4 had more chemotherapy symptom severity and interference, and cases of menopause were fewer in Class 4 rather than Class 3. Those in Class 4 were more likely to have been diagnosed with cancer within 3 months than those in Class 1.