Jung Mi Sook, Cimprich Bernadine
Author Affiliations: School of Nursing, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
Cancer Nurs. 2014 May-Jun;37(3):E31-42. doi: 10.1097/NCC.0b013e3182980383.
Cognitive deficits have been reported as detrimental side effects in chemotherapy-treated breast cancer patients and survivors. Korean women treated for breast cancer may experience unrecognized cognitive deficits related to their treatment. However, no research has examined cognitive test performance in chemotherapy-treated Korean breast cancer survivors.
The objectives of this study were 2-fold: (1) to examine differences in occurrence and severity of cognitive deficits in Korean women treated with adjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer as compared with a control group of women without breast cancer and (2) to examine the relationship of selected demographic and cultural factors with cognitive test performance.
Sixty-four Korean women, 32 women treated for localized breast cancer and 32 healthy controls, were enrolled. Breast cancer participants were assessed with established cognitive measures within 4 months after chemotherapy, and healthy controls, within 6 months after negative screening mammography.
The breast cancer group showed a significantly higher occurrence and greater severity of cognitive deficits than controls did. Importantly, older age, less education, greater collectivist tendency, and greater childrearing burden were reliably associated with poorer attention and working memory test performance.
Cognitive deficits were found in chemotherapy-treated Korean women with moderate to large effect sizes compared with controls. Cultural characteristics contributed to worse cognitive performance.
Healthcare providers should recognize that Korean women may be highly vulnerable to cognitive deficits. Cultural factors also need to be considered when assessing cognitive function and designing therapeutic interventions to counteract negative cognitive outcomes.
认知缺陷已被报道为接受化疗的乳腺癌患者及其幸存者的有害副作用。接受乳腺癌治疗的韩国女性可能存在与治疗相关但未被识别的认知缺陷。然而，尚无研究考察接受化疗的韩国乳腺癌幸存者的认知测试表现。
本研究的目的有两个：（1）考察接受辅助化疗的韩国乳腺癌女性与未患乳腺癌的女性对照组相比，认知缺陷的发生率和严重程度的差异；（2）考察选定的人口统计学和文化因素与认知测试表现之间的关系。
招募了64名韩国女性，其中32名接受局部乳腺癌治疗的女性和32名健康对照者。乳腺癌参与者在化疗后4个月内采用既定的认知测量方法进行评估，健康对照者在乳腺钼靶筛查阴性后6个月内进行评估。
乳腺癌组的认知缺陷发生率和严重程度显著高于对照组。重要的是，年龄较大、受教育程度较低、集体主义倾向较强以及育儿负担较重与注意力和工作记忆测试表现较差可靠相关。
与对照组相比，接受化疗的韩国女性存在认知缺陷，效应量为中度至重度。文化特征导致认知表现更差。
医疗保健提供者应认识到韩国女性可能极易出现认知缺陷。在评估认知功能和设计治疗干预措施以应对负面认知结果时，也需要考虑文化因素。
