Risk factors for self-reported arm lymphedema among female breast cancer survivors: a prospective cohort study

This study examines the incidence of self-reported lymphedema, timing of lymphedema onset, and associations between sociodemographic, clinical and lifestyle factors and lymphedema risk across racial-ethnic groups using data from a multi-center, multi-ethnic prospective cohort study of breast cancer survivors, the Health, Eating, Activity and Lifestyle Study. Methods: 666 women diagnosed with breast cancer staged as in situ, localized or regional disease at ages 35 to 64?years were recruited through the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results registries in New Mexico (non-Hispanic white and Hispanic white), Los Angeles County (black), and Western Washington (non-Hispanic white) and followed for a median of 10.2?years. We evaluated sociodemographic factors, breast cancer- and treatment-related factors, comorbidities, body mass index (BMI), hormonal factors, and lifestyle factors in relation to self-reported lymphedema by fitting Cox proportional hazards models, estimating hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). Results: Over the follow-up period, 190 women (29%) reported lymphedema. The median time from breast cancer diagnosis to onset of lymphedema was 10.5?months (range: 0.5 to 134.9?months). Factors independently associated with lymphedema were total/modified radical mastectomy (versus partial/less than total mastectomy; HR?=?1.37, 95% CI: 1.01 to 1.85), chemotherapy (versus no chemotherapy; HR?=?1.48, 95% CI: 1.09 to 2.02), no lymph nodes removed (versus ?...
Source: Breast Cancer Research - Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Source Type: research