PROFILES OF WEIGHTGAINING AND NON-WEIGHTGAINING BREAST CANCER PATIENTS RECEIVING ADJUVANT CHEMOTHERAPY.
Contributors: Rush University, College Of Nursing.
Published: 1984
Number of pages: 150
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.; Health Sciences, Oncology.
Description: Chemotherapy administered following mastectomy is the current recommended treatment for women with Stage II breast cancer. One of the side effects recently documented in women receiving this therapy has been significant weight gain in 40-50% of patients. Other research has shown an association between overweight and poorer prognosis in malignant breast disease. Thus far, there have been no studies of the variables which might contribute to weight gain in this setting. The purpose of this study is to determine how factors selected from cancer and obesity literature might influence the weightgaining versus non-weightgaining behavior of breast cancer patients receiving adjuvant chemotherapy. Specifically, the project asked: "How were activity, depression, metabolic rate, serum estradiol, and oral intake different in weightgaining and non-weightgaining breast cancer patients receiving adjuvant drug treatment?".

Observations of each variable, utilizing three scales from the Psychiatric Status Schedule (activity), SCL-90R (depression), indirect calorimetry (metabolic rate), radioimmunoassay (estradiol) and three 24-hour diet recalls (intake) were obtained at both initiation and completion of chemotherapy. The sample consisted of 34 women, treated with the same drug regimen for six months from a single Southeastern center.

Data analysis included t-tests on the change scores of each variable and multifactorial analyses, comparing weightgaining and non-weightgaining groups. The findings were: (1) weightgain occurred in 24/34 women and was significant, (2) premenopausal women were more likely to gain weight than postmenopausal women, (3) average activity scores improved over the adjuvant period, but remained below normal and were unrelated to weight gain, (4) post-menopausal women tended to become depressed during treatment; depression was also unrelated to weightgain, (5) metabolic rate and intake did not change over the six month study period and were not associated with weightgain, and (6) estradiol levels were reduced significantly among weightgainers than non-weightgainers, but no mechanism associated weightgain and estradiol decrease was noted.

The major conclusions were that (1) activity, depression, intake, and metabolic rate were not related to weightgain and (2) estradiol reduction was associated with weightgain, but without an identifiable mechanism for that gain.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 45-11, Section: B, page: 3467.

Thesis (D.N.SC.)--RUSH UNIVERSITY, COLLEGE OF NURSING, 1984.

School code: 0591.