AUTHOR=West Thomas , Cavallero Corrado , Ceccherini Rita , Foladore Silva , Generali Daniele , Versace Francesco , Scaggiante Bruna 

TITLE=Impact of psychosocial, behavioral and lifestyle factors on subjective cognitive complaints and perceived quality of life in a large cohort of Italian breast cancer patients

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology

VOLUME=Volume 13 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1015573

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1015573

ISSN=1664-1078

ABSTRACT=The impact of psychosocial and behavioral factors on Cancer Related Cognitive Impairment manifestations is still under debate. The study aims to determine the prevalence rate of cancer-related cognitive impairment in a cohort of Italian breast cancer patients and to evaluate the implication of specific behavioral factors. For these purposes, a total of 233 women (106 breast cancer patients and 127 age-matched controls without oncological diagnosis) completed a questionnaire investigating cognitive functionality (FACT-Cog v3.0), sociodemographic characteristics, clinical information, psychosocial and behavioral factors (cognitive reserve, sleep quality, dietary habits, physical activity). The results indicated a higher prevalence rate of subjective cognitive complaints in breast cancer patients (37%) compared to a representative sample of women in the same age group without an oncological diagnosis (p<.001). Moreover, breast cancer patients showed significantly lower levels of cognitive reserve (p<.05) and worse sleep quality (p<.01) compared to age-matched controls. Further analysis revealed that breast cancer patients reporting subjective cognitive complaints differed significantly from breast cancer patients without subjective cognitive complaints on measures of perceived cognitive abilities (p<.001) and on the impact of cognitive difficulties on the perceived quality of life (p<.01). Future studies are needed to examine behavioral directed interventions to prevent subjective cognitive deficits in breast cancer patients.