Abstract PS9-26: Pelvic floor disorders and quality of life among breast cancer survivors
Authors: Pennycuff Jon F , Yang Felice , Lobo Tania , Jackman Caroline , McGuire Colleen , Chitalia Ami , Graves Kristi 
Published: February 2021

Introduction: Approximately 25% of women in the United States experience a symptomatic pelvic floor disorder such as urinary incontinence, pelvic organ prolapse, anal incontinence, and sexual dysfunction. Aspects associated with breast cancer treatment such a chemotherapy, oophorectomy/ovarian suppression, and endocrine therapy may predispose women to pelvic floor disorders. The prevalence of pelvic floor disorders among breast cancer survivors has been cited at 18%, but unpublished cross-sectional data suggests the prevalence may be much higher. In this study, 8.5% - 11.5% of participants experienced prolapse symptoms, 56.2% experienced anal incontinence symptoms, and 43.3% - 51.2% experience urinary incontinence symptoms. While pelvic floor dysfunction is associated with lower quality of life, it is unknown if breast cancer survivors with pelvic floor disorders experience decreased quality of life. The primary aim of this study was to assess if breast cancer survivors with pelvic floor disorders experience lower quality of life.

Methods: Women 18 years or older who were previously treated for breast cancer and who were enrolled in a cancer research registry were invited to complete the Pelvic Floor Distress Inventory 20 (PFDI-20), the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI), and the Short Form 12. Demographic and clinical data were abstracted from the research registry. A participant was considered eligible for the study if she had enrolled in the cancer registry and completed all core questions (i.e. demographics, cancer diagnosis, cancer treatment, endocrine therapy, medical/surgical history, and risk factors). As per standard PFDI-20 reporting, presence of a symptom was defined as answering a 1, 2, 3, or 4 to a question, while presence of a bothersome symptom was defined as answering a 2, 3, or 4. A score of 26 or less on the FSFI was considered indicative of sexual dysfunction.

Results: A total of 634 women were considered eligible for enrollment in the study. 445 were able to be contacted, and 410 women agreed to participate in the study. Of those, 303 returned the PFDI-20 questionnaire and FSFI questionnaire, and 264 returned the SF-12 for response rates of 74% and 64%, respectively. Overall, higher scores on the PFDI-20 was associated with lower scores on both the physical and mental components of the SF-12 (Rho = -0.298, p = &lt;.0001; Rho = -0.202, p = .0009, respectively). When the PFDI-20 was broken into subscores, higher POPDI scores (prolapse) was associated with lower physical component scores but not lower mental component scores. Higher CRADI scores (anal incontinence) and UDI-6 scores (urinary incontinence) were associated with lower physical and mental scores. Neither overall FSFI scores or subset domain scores were associated with lower physical or mental component scores of the SF-12. In linear regression analysis, PFDI summary score remained statistically significantly related to both mental and physical component subscores after controlling for age, race, stage of breast cancer, time since diagnosis, and use of adjuvant endocrine therapy. FSFI scores were related to age and endocrine therapy use, but were not related to SF-12 scores.

Conclusion: Among a subset of breast cancer survivors, pelvic disorders including pelvic organ prolapse, urinary incontinence, and anal incontinence exist, and these disorders are associated with decreased mental wellbeing. All pelvic floor disorders except pelvic organ prolapse were associated with decreased physical wellbeing. None of the domains of female sexual dysfunction were associated with decreased physical or mental wellbeing among breast cancer survivors. A subset of breast cancer survivors experiences bothersome pelvic floor disorders and thus screening for these disorders can increase referrals to appropriate treatment and complement survivorship care to enhance overall quality of life.

Citation Format: Jon F Pennycuff, Felice Yang, Tania Lobo, Caroline Jackman, Colleen McGuire, Ami Chitalia, Kristi Graves. Pelvic floor disorders and quality of life among breast cancer survivors [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2020 San Antonio Breast Cancer Virtual Symposium; 2020 Dec 8-11; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2021;81(4 Suppl):Abstract nr PS9-26.