- Title
- Assessment of potential risk factors and skin ultrasound presentation associated with breast cancer-related lymphedema in long-term breast cancer survivors
- Creator
- Yusof, Khairunnisa’ Md; Avery-Kiejda, Kelly A.; Suhaimi, Shafinah Ahmad; Zamri, Najwa Ahmad; Rusli, Muhammad Ehsan Fitri; Mahmud, Rozi; Saini, Suraini Mohd; Ibraheem, Shahad Abdul Wahhab; Abdullah, Maha; Rosli, Rozita
- Relation
- Diagnostics Vol. 11, Issue August 2021, no. 1303
- Publisher Link
- http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics11081303
- Publisher
- MDPI AG
- Resource Type
- journal article
- Date
- 2021
- Description
- Breast cancer has been reported to have the highest survival rate among various cancers. However, breast cancer survivors face several challenges following breast cancer treatment including breast cancer-related lymphedema (BCRL), sexual dysfunction, and psychological distress. This study aimed to investigate the potential risk factors of BCRL in long term breast cancer survivors. A total of 160 female breast cancer subjects were recruited on a voluntary basis and arm lymphedema was assessed through self-reporting of diagnosis, arm circumference measurement, and ultrasound examination. A total of 33/160 or 20.5% of the women developed BCRL with significantly higher scores for upper extremity disability (37.14 ± 18.90 vs. 20.08 ± 15.29, p < 0.001) and a lower score for quality of life (103.91 ± 21.80 vs. 115.49 ± 16.80, p = 0.009) as compared to non-lymphedema cases. Univariate analysis revealed that multiple surgeries (OR = 5.70, 95% CI: 1.21–26.8, p < 0.001), axillary lymph nodes excision (>10) (OR = 2.83, 95% CI: 0.94–8.11, p = 0.047), being overweight (≥25 kg/m2) (OR = 2.57, 95% CI: 1.04 – 6.38, p = 0.036), received fewer post-surgery rehabilitation treatment (OR = 2.37, 95% CI: 1.05–5.39, p = 0.036) and hypertension (OR = 2.38, 95% CI: 1.01–5.62, p = 0.043 ) were associated with an increased risk of BCRL. Meanwhile, multivariate analysis showed that multiple surgeries remained significant and elevated the likelihood of BCRL (OR = 5.83, 95% CI: 1.14–29.78, p = 0.034). Arm swelling was more prominent in the forearm area demonstrated by the highest difference of arm circumference measurement when compared to the upper arm ( 2.07 ± 2.48 vs. 1.34 ± 1.91 cm, p < 0.001). The total of skinfold thickness of the affected forearm was also significantly higher than the unaffected arms (p < 0.05) as evidenced by the ultrasound examination. The continuous search for risk factors in specific populations may facilitate the development of a standardized method to reduce the occurrence of BCRL and provide better management for breast cancer patients.
- Subject
- bcrl; breast cancer; risk factors; quality of life; arm swelling; SDG 3; Sustainable Development Goals
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1448907
- Identifier
- uon:43522
- Identifier
- ISSN:2075-4418
- Rights
- © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
- Language
- eng
- Full Text
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