Quality of Life, Employment, and Informal Care Costs in Women Who Are Receiving Chemotherapy for Breast Cancer

OBJECTIVES:

Primary

• Compare the degree and duration of symptoms that interfere with functioning in women with breast cancer with 0-3 positive axillary lymph nodes treated with adjuvant cyclophosphamide and doxorubicin vs paclitaxel on protocol CALGB-40101.
• Compare the employment consequences of cancer and its treatment on patients treated with these regimens and on their extended families.
• Determine the prevalence and severity of peripheral neuropathy in patients treated with these regimens.

Secondary

• Determine the baseline characteristics that are predictive of vulnerability to side effects that significantly interfere with functioning in patients treated with these regimens.
• Determine the relative importance of the reasons that patients decided to participate in protocol CALGB-40101 and how those reasons might change as a consequence of their experience with treatment.
• Compare the quality-adjusted life years in patients treated with these regimens.
• Determine the type and amount of informal care needs of patients treated with these regimens.
• Compare the economic consequences of these treatment regimens on employment and informal care needs in these patients.
• Determine whether specific identifiable clinical adverse events (i.e., neuropathy or fatigue) are associated with greater economic consequences in patients treated with these regimens.
• Determine factors predictive of a patient being employed during and after cancer treatment.
• Compare the prevalence and severity of peripheral neuropathy in patients treated with these regimens.
• Determine the relationship between the severity of peripheral neuropathy after treatment and patients' functioning, including physical, psychological, and social functioning.
• Determine the neurotoxicity items in the Symptoms in Relation to Patient Functioning Survey ©-1271) used in this protocol by correlating its results with the FACT-Neurotoxicity Subscale ©-669) and the EORTC QLQ-C30 and Breast Cancer module ©-259 and C-618).

OUTLINE: This is a multicenter, companion study.

Patients complete quality of life, employment, and informal care cost questionnaires, and peripheral neuropathy assessments at baseline (before beginning treatment on protocol CALGB-40101), in weeks 5-6 and 9-10, and in months 9 and 18.

PROJECTED ACCRUAL: A total of 280 patients will be accrued for this study within 1 year.