Health-related quality of life in patients with breast cancer: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer of women across the world, which can affect the quality of life in patients due to complications caused by the disease and related treatments. Various treatments have been designed for these patients to improve their life quality. This study aimed to estimate the mean score of health-related quality of life patients with breast cancer in Iran. METHODS: In this study, we searched the national and international databases of SID, MagIran, Google Scholar, ISI/Web of Science, PubMed and Scopus with no time limits using the keywords of “health-related quality of life”, “health related quality of life”, “quality of life”, “breast neoplasm”, “breast cancer”, and “breast tumors”. Data analysis was performed in STATA version 14 based on the heterogeneity state using random effects model. RESULTS: In this study, 15 articles with a sample size of 1883 were evaluated, and the mean global quality of life in patients was reported at 72.48 (95% CI: 64.94–79.82). In addition, the worst performance and symptoms were related to emotional functioning (56.70) (95% CI: 49.84–63.55) and financial difficulties (43.57) (95% CI: 31.47–55.67). CONCLUSION: According to the results of the present study, the Iranian patients with breast cancer had a moderate quality of life in most dimensions.