Quality of life in long-term, disease-free survivors of breast cancer: A follow-up study

Abstract

Background: Women with breast cancer are the largest group of female survivors of cancer. There is limited infor-mation about the long-term quality of life (QOL) in disease-free breast cancer survivors. Methods: Letters of invitation were mailed to 1336 breast cancer survivors who had par-ticipated in an earlier survey and now were between 5 and 10 years after their initial diagnosis. The 914 respondents in-terested in participating were then sent a survey booklet that assessed a broad range of QOL and survivorship concerns. All P values were two-sided. Results: A total of 817 women completed the follow-up survey (61 % response rate), and the 763 disease-free survivors in that group, who had been di-agnosed an average of 6.3 years earlier, are the focus of this article. Physical well-being and emotional well-being were excellent; the minimal changes between the baseline and fol