Associations studied using EORTC-QLQ-C30/EORTC-QLQ-BR23 or FACT-G/FACT-B
| First author, year of publication | QoL outcomes | Determinant | Type of association with QoL outcomes |
| Studies using the EORTC-QLQ-C30 questionnaire | |||
| Cross-sectional (n=5) | |||
| Noh, 200872* | Global health status and social functioning | Involved in decision making | Positive |
| Reflection of own value to decision | |||
| Global health status, physical functioning, role functioning, emotional functioning, cognitive functioning and social functioning | Experience of treatment toxicity | Negative | |
| Global health status, physical functioning, role functioning and social functioning | Hospitalisation with treatment toxicity | Negative | |
| Global health status, role functioning, emotional functioning, cognitive functioning and social functioning | Problem obtaining surgery | Negative | |
| – | Having regular follow-up | – | |
| Akechi, 201070† | Global health status | Higher scores in the domains of SCNS: psychological, physical and daily living, sexuality, health system and information, care and support | Negative |
| Edib, 201648† | Global health status | Time since diagnosis (<2, 2–5 and >5 years) | Positive |
| Ethnicity (Malay vs Chinese vs Indian) | |||
| Higher household income (<RM2000, RM2000–RM4000 and >RM4000) | |||
| Breast-conserving surgery versus mastectomy | |||
| Immune therapy (yes vs no) | |||
| Unmarried (Un) versus married (M) versus widowed/divorced (WD) | W/D<M < Un | ||
| Older age (≤40, 40–49 and ≥50) | Negative | ||
| Employed versus retired versus housewife | |||
| Higher stage (0, 1, 2, 3 and 4) | |||
| Radiotherapy (yes vs no) | |||
| Chemotherapy (yes vs no) | |||
| Hormone therapy (yes vs no) | |||
| Higher scores in SCNS – physical needs | |||
| Higher scores in SCNS – psychological needs | |||
| Higher scores in SCNS – care and support needs | |||
| – | SCNS – sexuality needs | – | |
| – | SCNS – health system and information needs | – | |
| Kim, 201291* | Role functioning | Higher bone density | Positive |
| Huang, 201750† | Global health status | Time since diagnosis (2–3, 3–5 and ≥5 years) | Positive |
| Higher household income (≤US$1000, US$1001–US$2000 and ≥US$2001) | |||
| Tumour stage | |||
| Comorbidities (0, 1, 2 and ≥3) | Negative | ||
| Treatment (combinations of surgery (S), chemotherapy (C), radiotherapy (R), hormone therapy (H), targeted therapy (T)) | C>S+C+H>S+C+R+H+T>S+C>others> S+R+ hour>S+C+R+ hour>S+C+R>S+H | ||
| – | Illness duration (ref: 2–3, 3–5 and ≥5 years) | 3–5 years>2–3 years | |
| – | Recurrence or metastasisation | – | |
| Liang, 201654† | Global health status | Year of diagnosis | Negative |
| Symptom distress | |||
| Global health status | Symptom management self-efficacy | Positive | |
| Longitudinal (n=2) | |||
| Jang, 201292† | – | Presence of religion | – |
| – | Higher religious activity (at 5 days and 1 year postsurgery) | – | |
| – | Higher intrinsic religiosity at 5 days postsurgery | – | |
| Global health status | Higher intrinsic religiosity at 1 year postsurgery | Positive | |
| Wani, 201239 | Global health status, physical functioning, role functioning, emotional functioning, cognitive functioning and social functioning | Time at first chemotherapy treatment, 6, 12 and 24 months after first visit | Positive |
| Fatigue, nausea and vomiting, pain, dyspnoea, insomnia, appetite loss, constipation, diarrhoea and financial difficulty | Negative | ||
| Studies using the EORTC-QLQ-C30 and EORTC-QLQ-BR23 questionnaire | |||
| Cross-sectional (n=13) | |||
| Yusuf et al 201353 | Nausea and vomiting, dyspnoea, constipation and breast symptoms | Malay versus Chinese | Positive |
| Kim et al, 201561 | Role functioning, social functioning, body image and fatigue | Breast-conserving surgery versus mastectomy | Positive |
| Pain, insomnia and arm symptoms | Negative | ||
| Body image and fatigue | Breast-conserving surgery versus mastectomy with reconstruction | Positive | |
| Global health status, physical functioning, role functioning, emotional functioning, cognitive functioning, social functioning, body image, sexual functioning, sexual enjoyment and future perspective | Better subjectively measured cosmesis | Positive | |
| Fatigue, nausea and vomiting, pain, dyspnoea, insomnia, appetite loss, constipation, diarrhoea, systemic therapy side effects, breast symptoms, arm symptoms and hair loss | Negative | ||
| Body image | Objectively measured cosmesis (good vs poor) | Positive | |
| Body image and diarrhoea | Panel score for cosmesis (good vs poor) | Positive | |
| Chui et al, 201521 | – | Age (30–39, 40–49, 50–59 and ≥60)‡ | – |
| Global health status | Ethnicity (Malay vs Indian)‡ | Positive | |
| Ethnicity (Chinese vs Indian)‡ | |||
| Education (tertiary vs primary/lower)‡ | |||
| Education (secondary vs primary/lower)‡ | |||
| Household income (≤RM3000 vs >RM3000)‡ | |||
| Single versus ever married‡ | |||
| Chemotherapy (postponed vs on schedule)‡ | |||
| – | Stage (early vs late)‡ | – | |
| – | Chemotherapy cycles (2/3/4 vs 5/6)‡ | – | |
| – | Complementary and complementary medicine (MBP vs MBP-NP vs MBP-NP-TMed)‡ | – | |
| Financial difficulty, sexual enjoyment, systemic therapy side effects and breast symptoms | Complementary and complementary medicine (users vs non-users) | Positive | |
| Emotional functioning and cognitive functioning | Complementary and complementary medicine (single (S), dual (D), triple (T) modality) | S<T<D | |
| Body image and future perspective | S<D<T | ||
| Upset by hair loss | D<T<S | ||
| Systemic therapy side effects | T<D<S | ||
| Lee, 200767§ | Global health status | Presence of religion | Negative |
| Presence of one or more comorbidity | |||
| Incomplete versus completed treatment | |||
| Problems before surgery | |||
| Involved in decision making | Positive | ||
| Better perceived overall medical care | |||
| – | Time since diagnosis (≥5 years vs <5 years) | – | |
| Global health status, physical functioning, role functioning, social functioning and sexual enjoyment | Treatment status: post versus ongoing versus non | Post > (Ongoing = Non) | |
| Fatigue, pain, insomnia, appetite loss and body image | Negative | ||
| Sun, 201462 | Emotional functioning, social functioning and body image | Breast-conserving surgery versus mastectomy versus mastectomy with reconstruction | Positive |
| Nausea and vomiting, financial difficulty, arm symptoms (score for mastectomy with reconstruction was lower than for those with breast-conserving surgery) | Negative | ||
| Okamura, 200593 | Emotional functioning, body image and future perspective | Presence of psychiatric disorder | Negative |
| Fatigue, nausea and vomiting, appetite loss and diarrhoea | Positive | ||
| Huang, 201060 | Dyspnoea | Older age | Positive |
| Role functioning | Married (yes vs no) | Negative | |
| Breast symptoms | Positive | ||
| Global health status and role functioning | Breast-conserving surgery versus mastectomy | Negative | |
| Fatigue, pain, dyspnoea, insomnia, appetite loss, breast symptoms and arm symptoms | Positive | ||
| Insomnia, breast symptoms and arm symptoms | Adjuvant therapy (yes vs no) | Positive | |
| Insomnia | Hormone therapy (yes vs no) | Positive | |
| Kang, 201222 | Arm symptoms | Use of complementary and complementary medicine | Positive |
| Park, 201258 | Sexual functioning and sexual enjoyment | Older age | Negative |
| – | Tumour size | – | |
| – | Lymph nodes involvement | – | |
| Global health status | Metastatic disease | Negative | |
| Physical functioning and role functioning | Positive | ||
| – | Postsurgery versus presurgery | – | |
| – | Axillary clearance | – | |
| Pain | Chemotherapy (yes vs no) | Negative | |
| Appetite loss, sexual enjoyment | Radiotherapy (yes vs no) | Negative | |
| Future perspective | Hormone therapy (yes vs no) | Positive | |
| – | Self-massage | – | |
| – | Lymphoedema duration | – | |
| Tang, 201673 | Global health status, physical functioning, role functioning, emotional functioning, body image and future perspective | Diabetes mellitus (yes vs no) | Negative |
| Fatigue, nausea and vomiting, pain, dyspnoea, insomnia, constipation, diarrhoea, financial difficulty, systematic therapy side effects, breast symptoms, arm symptoms and upset with hair loss | Positive | ||
| Global health status, cognitive functioning, emotional functioning and constipation | Type 1 diabetes mellitus versus no diabetes mellitus | Negative | |
| Fatigue, nausea and vomiting, dyspnoea, insomnia, diarrhoea, systematic therapy side effects and breast symptoms | Positive | ||
| Global health status, physical functioning, role functioning, sexual functioning, sexual enjoyment, future perspective, fatigue and constipation | Type 2 diabetes mellitus versus no diabetes mellitus | Negative | |
| Body image, pain, dyspnoea, insomnia, appetite loss, financial difficulty, systematic therapy side effects, breast symptoms, arm symptoms and upset with hair loss | Positive | ||
| Kang, 201794 | Global health status, physical functioning, cognitive functioning, emotional functioning, role functioning, body image and future perspective | Happiness status (Subjective Happiness Scale) | Positive |
| Fatigue, nausea and vomiting, pain, insomnia, appetite loss, constipation, financial difficulties, systemic therapy side effects, arm symptoms and upset with hair loss | Negative | ||
| Dubashi, 201059 | Global health status, sexual functioning and sexual enjoyment | Breast-conserving surgery versus mastectomy | Negative |
| Arm symptoms | Positive | ||
| Sexual functioning and sexual enjoyment | Having had ovarian ablation | Negative | |
| Shin, 201795 | Fatigue and pain | Higher levels of physical activity (metabolic equivalent-hours per week) (tertiles) | Negative |
| Sexual functioning | Positive | ||
| Physical functioning (only among stage I) | Positive | ||
| Chang, 201449¶ | Global health status | Education (more than high school vs less than middle school) | Positive |
| Married versus single/divorced/separated/widowed | |||
| Body image | Household income (>$3000 vs <$3000) | Positive | |
| Employed versus unemployed | Negative | ||
| – | Stage (1, 2, 3 and unknown) | – | |
| – | Being on active treatment | – | |
| Body image | Breast-conserving surgery versus mastectomy | Positive | |
| Sharma, 201796 | – | Time of radiotherapy (every day for 5 days) | – |
| Longitudinal (n=7) | |||
| Kao, 201546** | Global health status, emotional functioning, body image, sexual functioning, sexual enjoyment and future perspective | Older age (years) | Negative |
| Global health status, physical functioning, role functioning, emotional functioning, cognitive functioning, social functioning, body image, sexual functioning, sexual enjoyment and future perspective | Longer time since diagnosis (at 6 months/1 year/2 years vs at time of diagnosis) | Positive | |
| Global health status, physical functioning, role functioning, emotional functioning, cognitive functioning, social functioning, body image, sexual functioning, sexual enjoyment and future perspective | Charlson comorbidity index | Negative | |
| Global health status, physical functioning, role functioning, emotional functioning, cognitive functioning, body image, sexual functioning, sexual enjoyment and future perspective | Tumour stage (3/4 vs 0/1) | Negative | |
| Cognitive functioning and body image | Tumour stage (2 vs 0/1) | Negative | |
| Role functioning, emotional functioning, cognitive functioning and body image | Breast-conserving surgery versus mastectomy | Positive | |
| Physical functioning, emotional functioning, body image, sexual functioning and sexual enjoyment | Breast-conserving surgery versus mastectomy with reconstruction | Negative | |
| Global health status, physical functioning, emotional functioning, body image and future perspective | Chemotherapy (yes vs no) | Negative | |
| Global health status, emotional functioning, body image and future perspective | Radiotherapy (yes vs no) | Positive | |
| Global health status, body image and future perspective | Hormone therapy (yes vs no) | Positive | |
| Physical functioning, role functioning, emotional functioning, cognitive functioning, body image, sexual functioning and sexual enjoyment | Longer postoperative length of stay | Negative | |
| Munshi, 201038 | Social functioning and arm symptom | Breast-conserving surgery versus mastectomy prior to radiotherapy | Negative |
| Sexual enjoyment and future perspective | Positive | ||
| Lee, 201178 | Diarrhoea | Longer time since diagnosis (1 year postdiagnosis vs at diagnosis) | Negative |
| Shi, 201147 | Global health status, physical functioning, role functioning, emotional functioning, cognitive functioning, social functioning, body image, sexual functioning, sexual enjoyment and future perspective | Longer time since diagnosis (2 vs 1 year) | Positive |
| Role functioning, emotional functioning, cognitive functioning and body image | Breast-conserving surgery versus mastectomy | Positive | |
| Physical functioning, emotional functioning, sexual functioning and sexual enjoyment | Breast-conserving surgery versus mastectomy with reconstruction | Negative | |
| Body image | Positive | ||
| Global health status | Older age | Negative | |
| Body image, sexual functioning and sexual enjoyment | Positive | ||
| Global health status, physical functioning, emotional functioning, body image and future perspective | Chemotherapy (yes vs no) | Negative | |
| Global health status, emotional functioning, body image and future perspective | Radiotherapy (yes vs no) | Positive | |
| Global health status and body image | Hormone therapy (yes vs no) | Positive | |
| Global health status, physical functioning, role functioning, emotional functioning, cognitive functioning, social functioning, body image, sexual functioning, sexual enjoyment and future perspective | Preoperative quality of life score | Positive | |
| Ng, 201541†† | Emotional functioning | At 6 months postdiagnosis versus at time of diagnosis | Positive |
| Physical functioning | Negative | ||
| Global health status, emotional functioning and social functioning | At 12 months postdiagnosis versus at time of diagnosis | Positive | |
| Munshi, 201297 | – | Radiotherapy using cobalt machine versus linear accelerator at completion of radiotherapy | – |
| Damodar, 201337 | Physical functioning, role functioning and future perspective | At ≥5 versus ≤2 cycles of chemotherapy | Negative |
| Fatigue, insomnia, arm symptoms and upset with hair loss | Positive | ||
| Sultan, 201740 | Global health status, physical functioning, role functioning, emotional functioning, cognitive functioning, social functioning, sexual functioning, arm symptoms and breast symptoms | Chemotherapy (cycle ref: 1, 3, 6) | Negative |
| Fatigue, pain, dyspnoea, appetite loss, diarrhoea, sexual enjoyment and upset with hair loss | Positive | ||
| Studies using the FACT-G questionnaire | |||
| Cross-sectional (n=1) | |||
| So, 201451‡ | – | Age (years) | – |
| – | Time since diagnosis (months) | – | |
| – | Comorbidity (yes vs no) | – | |
| – | Education (no formal/primary vs secondary or higher) | – | |
| – | Employed versus unemployed/retired/homemaker | – | |
| – | Household income (≤HK$10 000, HK$10 001–HK$30000 and >HK$30 000) | – | |
| – | Married/cohabitation versus single/divorced/widowed | – | |
| – | Living alone (yes vs no) | – | |
| – | Family history (yes vs no) | – | |
| – | Stage (≤2 vs ≥3) | – | |
| – | Cancer is under control versus progression (yes vs no/unsure) | – | |
| – | Number of treatment received (one vs ≥2) | – | |
| Overall well-being | Hormone therapy (yes vs no) | Positive | |
| Longer time needed to travel from home to hospital (minutes) | Negative | ||
| Higher scores in the domains of SCNS – psychological, physical and daily living, sexuality, health system and information, care and support | |||
| Longitudinal (n=1) | |||
| Wong, 200756‡‡ | Overall well-being, physical well-being and functional well-being | Longer time since diagnosis | Positive |
| Overall well-being and physical well-being | Positive mood | Positive | |
| Overall well-being and functional well-being | Higher levels of boredom | Negative | |
| Studies using the FACT-B questionnaire | |||
| Cross-sectional (n=15) | |||
| Yan, 201643 | Overall well-being, social well-being and functional well-being | Age (≤44, 45–54, 55–64 and ≥65 years) | Negative |
| Breast cancer subscale | Positive | ||
| Overall well-being, social well-being, emotional well-being and functional well-being | Primary school or less (L) versus middle/high school (M) versus college or more (C) | L<M<C | |
| Physical well-being | M<L<C | ||
| Social well-being | Married (Ma) versus single (S) versus widowed (W) versus divorced (D) | D<S<W<Ma | |
| Breast cancer subscale | Ma<D<W<S | ||
| Overall well-being, physical well-being, emotional well-being and functional well-being | Working in the public sector (G) versus private sector (P) versus farmers/unemployed (U) | U<P<G | |
| Social well-being | P<U<G | ||
| Breast cancer subscale | U<G<P | ||
| Overall well-being, social well-being, emotional well-being and functional well-being | Household income (<1000, 1001–3000, 3001–5000, >5000 RMB) | Positive | |
| Physical well-being | Generally positive | ||
| Overall well-being, physical well-being, functional well-being and breast cancer subscale | URBMI/NRCMS (UR) versus UEBMI health insurance (UE) versus undefined (Un) | UR<Un<UE | |
| Emotional well-being | UR<UE<Un | ||
| – | Stage (0/1, 2, 3, 4, unknown) | – | |
| – | Breast-conserving surgery versus mastectomy | – | |
| Overall well-being, physical well-being, emotional well-being and breast cancer subscale | Chemotherapy (yes vs no) | Negative | |
| Overall well-being, physical well-being, social well-being, emotional well-being, functional well-being and breast cancer subscale | Traditional Chinese medication (yes vs no) | Positive | |
| Overall well-being, emotional well-being and breast cancer subscale | Time since diagnosis (<11.9 (A), 12–23.9 (B), ≥24 (C) months) | A<C<B | |
| Physical well-being, social well-being and functional well-being | A<B<C | ||
| Overall well-being, physical well-being, social well-being, emotional well-being, functional well-being and breast cancer subscale | Family harmony status (good vs not so good) | Positive | |
| Interaction with friends/neighbours (never, sometimes and frequent) | |||
| Overall well-being, social well-being, emotional well-being and functional well-being | Participation in healing club (yes vs no) | Positive | |
| Breast cancer subscale | Negative | ||
| Overall well-being, social well-being, emotional well-being and functional well-being | Participation in peer-patient activities and communication | Positive | |
| Overall well-being, physical well-being, social well-being, emotional well-being and functional well-being | Score on Perceived Social Support Scale (<50, 50–69 and ≥70) | Positive | |
| Ohsumi, 200944 | Overall well-being and social well-being | Older age (>60 vs ≤60 years) | Negative |
| – | Time since surgery (≥85 vs <85 months) | – | |
| Social well-being | Education (≥10 vs <10 years) | Positive | |
| – | Employed versus unemployed | – | |
| – | Household income (>10, 5–10 and ≤5 million yen) | – | |
| – | Married versus others | – | |
| – | Comorbidity (yes vs no) | – | |
| – | Lymph node status | – | |
| Breast cancer subscale | Breast-conserving surgery versus mastectomy | Positive | |
| – | Chemotherapy (yes vs no) | – | |
| – | Hormone therapy (yes vs no) | – | |
| Park, 201142 | Overall well-being, physical well-being, social well-being, functional well-being and breast cancer subscale | Older age (≥50 vs <50 years) | Negative |
| Park, 201271‡ | – | Age (≥50 vs <50 years) | – |
| – | Education | – | |
| – | Employment | – | |
| – | Economic status | – | |
| – | Single versus married | – | |
| – | Performance status | – | |
| – | Score in the domains of SCNS – health system and information, care and support | – | |
| Overall well-being | Higher score in the domains of SCNS – psychological, physical and daily living | Negative | |
| Higher score in the domains of SCNS – sexuality | Positive | ||
| Thanarpan, 201598 | Functional well-being | Better subjectively measured cosmesis | Negative |
| – | Objectively measured cosmesis | – | |
| – | Self-rated breast symmetry | – | |
| He, 201263 | Social well-being | Breast-conserving surgery versus mastectomy | Positive |
| Overall well-being, physical well-being, emotional well-being and functional well-being | Satisfaction with treatment | Not specified | |
| Chen, 201355 | Emotional well-being | Older age (≥40 versus <40 years) | Positive |
| Overall well-being, physical well-being, emotional well-being and breast cancer subscale | Time since treatment (1, 2 and 5 years) | Positive | |
| Social well-being | Can read and write versus illiterate | Positive | |
| Employed versus unemployed | |||
| Physical well-being, emotional well-being and breast cancer subscale | Higher stage | Negative | |
| – | Breast-conserving surgery versus mastectomy versus mastectomy with reconstruction | – | |
| – | Chemotherapy (yes vs no) | – | |
| – | Radiotherapy (yes vs no) | – | |
| – | Hormone therapy (yes vs no) | – | |
| Chang, 200799§§ | – | – | – |
| Kim, 2013100 | Functional well-being | Oestrogen receptor status positive | Positive |
| So, 2013101 | Social well-being and functional well-being | Having social support | Positive |
| Breast cancer subscale | Negative | ||
| Zou, 201475†† | Overall well-being | Higher optimism | Positive |
| Affront copping mode versus give-in coping mode | |||
| Appraisal of illness (higher scores indicate more stress) | Negative | ||
| Having distress symptoms | |||
| Jiao-Mei, 201574 | – | Age (years) | – |
| – | Time since diagnosis (months) | – | |
| – | Stage | – | |
| Overall well-being, physical well-being, social well-being, emotional well-being and functional well-being | Post-traumatic growth (low, moderate and high) | Positive | |
| Overall well-being and social well-being | Adverse childhood event (0, 1 and ≥2) | Negative | |
| Qiu, 2016102 | BRCA 1/2 carriers versus non-carriers | – | |
| Shin, 201757 | Age (≤39, 40–49, 50–59 and ≥60) | – | |
| Overall well-being | Education (middle school vs high school vs university) | Positive | |
| Employment (yes vs no) | Positive | ||
| – | Marital status (single vs married) | – | |
| – | Religion (yes vs no) | – | |
| – | Time since diagnosis (≤1, 1–5 and ≥5) | – | |
| Overall well-being | Recurrence (yes vs no) | Negative | |
| – | Breast-conserving surgery versus mastectomy | ||
| – | Breast-conserving surgery versus mastectomy with reconstruction | – | |
| Overall well-being | Empowerment | Positive | |
| – | Self-help group (yes versus no) | – | |
| So et al, 201145 | Overall well-being, physical well-being, emotional well-being and breast cancer subscale | Age (≥60 vs <60 years) | Positive |
| Park, 201352 | – | Age (≤39 vs 40 – 49 vs 50–59 years)‡‡ | – |
| Overall well-being | Household income (<2, 2–4, >4 million KRW/month)‡‡ | Positive | |
| Stage (1, 2, 3/4, unknown)‡‡ | Negative | ||
| – | Length of chemotherapy (<6, 6–12 and ≥12 months)‡‡ | – | |
| Overall well-being | Satisfaction with family support (unsatisfied, moderate and satisfied)‡‡ | Positive | |
| Frequency of sexual activity (none within 6 months, ≤3 in 6 months, 2–3 per month and ≥1 per week) | |||
| Overall well-being, social well-being, emotional well-being, functional well-being and breast cancer subscale | Sexual function | Positive | |
| Overall well-being, physical well-being, social well-being, emotional well-being, functional well-being and breast cancer subscale | Experienced menopausal symptoms | Negative | |
| Pahlevan Sharif, 201776 | Overall well-being, social well-being, functional well-being and breast cancer subscale | Higher external locus of control | Negative |
| Overall well-being and functional well-being | Higher internal locus of control | Positive | |
| Sharif, 201777 | Overall well-being, social well-being, emotional well-being, functional well-being and breast cancer subscale | Higher score on powerful others | Negative |
| Overall well-being, social well-being and breast cancer subscale | Higher score on chance | Negative | |
| Breast cancer subscale | Avoidant emotional coping | Negative | |
| Overall well-being, social well-being and functional well-being | Active emotional coping | Positive | |
| Social well-being and functional well-being | Problem focused coping | Positive | |
| So, 2009103 | – | – | – |
| Pandey, 2005104 | – | – | – |
| Longitudinal (n=3) | |||
| Cao, 2016105 | Emotional well-being and social well-being | Age (>60 vs ≤60 years) | Positive |
| Longer time since enrolment (for most comparison between 6/12/18/24 months vs time since enrolment) | |||
| Mastectomy (yes vs no) | |||
| Prior chemotherapy (yes vs no) | |||
| Emotional well-being and social well-being | Axillary lymph node dissection (yes vs no) | Negative | |
| Pandey, 200668 | Overall well-being, physical well-being, functional well-being and breast cancer subscale | Postsurgery versus presurgery | Negative |
| Taira, 201264¶¶ | – | Concomitant disease (compared at 6, 12 and 24 months) | – |
| – | Nodal involvement (compared at 6, 12 and 24 months) | – | |
| – | Breast-conserving surgery versus mastectomy (compared at 6, 12 and 24 months) | – | |
| – | Intercostobrachial nerve perseverance (compared at 6, 12 and 24 months) | – | |
| Overall well-being and breast cancer subscale | Chemotherapy (yes vs no) (compared at 6 months) | Negative | |
| Breast cancer subscale | Chemotherapy (yes vs no) (compared at 12 and 24 months) | Negative | |
| – | Hormone therapy (compared at 6, 12 and 24 months) | – | |
| Study using both the EORTC-QLQ-C30 and FACT-G questionnaire | |||
| Cross-sectional (n=1) | |||
| Gong, 201769 | Global health status, physical functioning, role functioning, emotional functioning, social functioning, overall well-being, physical well-being, social well-being, emotional well-being and functional well-being | Exercisers versus non-exercisers | Positive |
| Nausea and vomiting, pain, dyspnoea and appetite loss | Negative | ||
| Global health status, role functioning, cognitive functioning, emotional functioning, overall well-being, physical well-being and functional well-being | Frequency of exercise among exercisers (<5 vs ≥5 times a week) | Positive | |
| Fatigue, nausea and vomiting, dyspnoea, appetite loss and diarrhoea | Negative | ||
| Global health status, physical functioning, role functioning, cognitive functioning, emotional functioning, social functioning, overall well-being, social well-being and functional well-being | Vegetable intake (≤250 vs >250 g/day) | Positive | |
| Fatigue, nausea and vomiting, dyspnoea, appetite loss, constipation and financial difficulty | Negative | ||
| Global health status, physical functioning, cognitive functioning, emotional functioning, overall well-being, physical well-being, social well-being, emotional well-being and functional well-being | Daily fruit intake (yes vs no) | Positive | |
| Dyspnoea, appetite loss and constipation | Negative | ||
| Global health status, physical functioning, role functioning, cognitive functioning, emotional functioning, social functioning, overall well-being, physical well-being, social well-being, emotional well-being and functional well-being | Healthy behaviour (ref: 1 vs 0 vs 2 vs 3) | Positive | |
| Fatigue, nausea and vomiting, pain, dyspnoea, insomnia, appetite loss, constipation and financial difficulty | Negative | ||
Positive association implies an increase in measured score based on the respective scoring manual of each questionnaire. Global health status and functioning status of EORTC-QLQ-C30/-BR23: positive association implies better quality of life and functioning. Symptoms scales of EORTC-QLQ-C30/EORTC-QLQ-BR23: positive association implies higher level of symptoms. All scales of FACT-G/-B: positive association implies better well-being
*Domains studied: global health status, physical functioning, role functioning, emotional functioning, cognitive functioning and social functioning.
†Domains studied: global health status.
‡Domains studied: overall well-being.
§Apart from determinant ‘treatment status’, domain studied: global health status.
¶Domains studied: global health status and body image.
**Domains studied: global health status, physical functioning, role functioning, emotional functioning, social functioning, body image, sexual functioning, sexual enjoyment and future perspective.
††Domains studied: global health status, physical functioning, role functioning, emotional functioning, social functioning, body image, breast symptoms and arm symptoms.
‡‡Domains studied: overall well-being, physical well-being, social well-being, functional well-being.
§§Significance not mentioned (JT Chang).
¶¶Domains studied: overall well-being and breast cancer subscale.
MBP, mind–body practices; NP, natural products; NRCMS, New Rural Cooperative Medical Scheme health insurance; SCNS, the short-form Supportive Care Needs Survey questionnaire; TMed, traditional medicine; UEBMI, Urban Employee Basic Medical Insurance; URBMI, Urban Resident Basic Medical Insurance.