Arm Function and Quality of Life Among Patients after Mastectomy

Introduction: For many women with breast cancer, mastectomy is a common form of treatment which has an indirect effect on female beauty, sexuality and feminity. Also, the patients suffer severe arm and shoulder morbidity post surgery which affects their quality of life. Aim: To determine the arm function and quality of life among patients after mastectomy and find correlation between these two aspects. Materials and Methods: A quantitative descriptive correlational design with non probability convenience sampling technique was used to collect data from 60 post mastectomy women. The setting used for the study was Gynaecological Oncology OPD at Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences (AIMS), Kochi, Kerala, India. Data collection was done from November 2016 to December 2016. A standardised Quality of Life-Breast Cancer Patient Version (QOL-BCV) questionnaire and DASH (Disability of Arm Shoulder Hand) tool was used for the assessment along with a structured questionnaire to assess sociodemographic and clinical data. Karl Pearson correlation test was used for data analysis. Results: The study result showed that majority of the patients 48 (80%) had good arm function with less disability. Quality of life of 21 (35%) patients was high and 39 (65%) patients had moderate quality of life. There was a significant correlation found between disability score and quality of life (r=-0.802) and with all the domains of quality of life {physical (r=-0.771), psychological (r=-0.695), social (r=-0.746) and spiritual (r=-0.500)}. Also a significant association was found between arm function and the clinical variables like oedema (p=0.006) and radiation therapy (p=0.017). Conclusion: Arm disability influences quality of life of patients after mastectomy. The results of this study will help to improve actions to reduce arm disabilities such as lymphoedema as early as possible, through proper assessment and post mastectomy exercises, including special care for patients undergoing radiation therapy. This will improve the quality of life of post mastectomy patients.