Impact of autonomic and self-regulation on cancer-related fatigue and distress in breast cancer patients – a prospective observational study

Purpose Cancer-related fatigue (CRF) has a major impact on the quality of life in breast cancer patients (BC). So far, only a few prospective studies have investigated the effect of adaptive salutogenic mechanisms on CRF. The aim of our study was to evaluate the possible prospective influence of autonomic Regulation (aR) and self-regulation (SR) on CRF and distress in long-term survivors. Methods 95 BC and 80 healthy female controls (C) had been included in the observational study between 2000 and 2001 and completed the questionnaires on aR, SR and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). Of these, 62 BC, and 58 C participated in the re-evaluation 6.6 years later: 16 participants were deceased (14 BC and 2 C). During follow-up, participants were requested to answer questions involving (Cancer Fatigue Scales) CFS-D, aR, SR and HADS. Multiple regression analysis was used to evaluate the influence of aR, SR, age, Charlson co-morbidity-index and diagnosis on CFS-D and HADS, and to select further potentially relevant factors. Results High aR values showed significant effects, namely inverse relationships with CFS-D, cognitive fatigue, anxiety and depression. SR showed a reduced influence on anxiety and depression (all p