Sociodemographic and treatment-related correlates of fatigue in breast cancer survivors at an oncology clinic in Nigeria.

BACKGROUND: Breast cancer survivors (BCS) still experience fatigue that may impair their quality of life even after completion of treatment. There is a need to understand the sociodemographic and treatment-related factors associated with this to develop relevant and effective interventions.

AIM: To assess the relationship between cancer-related fatigue and sociodemographic and treatment-related factors in BCS.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study involving 80 BCS attending the radiation oncology University College Hospital Ibadan. Their sociodemographic, disease and treatment characteristics were obtained. Fatigue Symptom Inventory was used to assess fatigue. A score of at least 3 on average fatigue severity item was taken as cut-off for clinically meaningful fatigue.

RESULT: The mean age of patients was 51.5 years. The prevalence of fatigue was 22.5%. On univariate analysis, fatigue was significantly associated with younger age ( p = 0.022), employment ( p = 0.006), stage of the disease( p = 0.014), anthracycline-based chemotherapy ( p = 0.026), last chemotherapy less than 1 year ( p = 0.001). Using logistic regression analysis, stage (Odds ratio (OR) 5.115, 95% CI 1.029-25.438, p = 0.046), employment status (OR 52.224, 95% CI 3.611-755.899, p = 0.004) and year of last cycle chemotherapy (OR 6.375, 95% CI 1.108-36.680, p = 0.038) were associated with fatigue in BCS.

CONCLUSION: About a quarter of BCS reported fatigue. Advance stage disease, employment status and receiving last course of chemotherapy less than a year are correlates of fatigue.