Fragilidade e fatores associados em pacientes com câncer de mama em tratamento oncológico

Abstract

Breast cancer is currently the most incident among women around the world. Chemotherapy treatment can cause side effects associated with frailty. Frailty is characterized by a clinical condition of vulnerability and worsening of the condition when subjected to stressful factors. The general objective of the research was to identify factors associated with the fragility of women with breast cancer undergoing cancer treatment. It was a correlational, cross-sectional study with a quantitative approach and the sociodemographic and clinical instruments, the Tilburg Frailty Indicator (TFI), the Social Support Scale of the Medical Outcome Study (MOS-SSS), the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer were used. of Life Questionnaire (EORTC-QLQ-C30) and the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer of Life Questionnaire - Breast Cancer (EORTC-QLQ-BR23). Sixty-seven women with breast cancer who were undergoing cancer treatment were interviewed. To present the results, three articles were prepared, the first study aimed to verify the relationship between frailty and social support of women with breast cancer undergoing cancer treatment. The average age of the participants was 59.78 years, with 38.81% being frail and 61.19% non-frail. Frail patients had a worse perception of social support in all domains of the MOS-SSS scale. The physical domain of frailty was negatively correlated in all MOS-SSS domains, except for the material social support domain, whereas the psychological domain was negatively correlated with all MOS-SSS domains and in relation to the social domain, it was confirmed. There was a negative correlation with the emotional social support and information social support domains. The second article aimed to relate frailty with the perception of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of women with breast cancer undergoing chemotherapy. Among the results, it was found that frail women had worse sleep quality, more falls, more pain and movement limitation and perceived changes in their lives after starting treatment. Frail women had a worse perception of HRQoL compared to non-frail women. In the third and final article, the factors associated with the fragility of women with breast cancer undergoing cancer treatment were verified. The factors that were significantly associated with the fragility of women with breast cancer undergoing chemotherapy, in a significant way, were: social support (OR:0.926) and the HRQoL domains, physical function (OR:0.948), performance of role (OR:0.966) and future perception (OR:0.980), these being protective variables. It was concluded that there was a relationship between frailty and the perception of social support and HRQoL, and frail women with breast cancer undergoing chemotherapy had a worse perception of social support and HRQoL. Social support and some dimensions of HRQoL (physical function, role performance and future perception) were jointly associated with frailty, which are protective factors for the frailty of women with breast cancer undergoing cancer treatment.