Department of Psychology, Faculty of Science, Memorial University, St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, A1B 3X9, Canada.
Discipline of Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, Memorial University , St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.
Int J Behav Med. 2024 Feb;31(1):31-40. doi: 10.1007/s12529-023-10153-6. Epub 2023 Jan 31.
Perceived deficits in executive functioning are among the many difficulties that women diagnosed with breast cancer experience. This study assessed the presence of perceived deficits in executive functioning among women with breast cancer prior to systemic treatment and radiation and associations between perceived deficits in executive function and comorbid fatigue, sleep, and mood disturbance.
Participants were recruited following their breast cancer diagnosis and assessed using the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function for Adults (BRIEF-A), subjective and objective measures of sleep duration and efficiency, and self-report measures of insomnia severity, sleep quality, fatigue, and mood disturbance. Hierarchical regression was used to examine associations between symptoms, adjusting for age and education.
The final sample included 92 women with a mean age of 60.7 years and 13.5 years of education. Thirteen percent of participants reported global executive dysfunction. After partitioning out variability from other independent variables, fatigue (p = < .001), perceived sleep quality (p = .030), and symptoms of insomnia (p = .008) accounted for 13.3%, 5.7%, and 8.5% of unique variance in perceived executive functioning, respectively. Emotional fatigue was most strongly associated with perceived deficits in executive functioning. Neither subjective or objective sleep duration or efficiency was associated with perceived deficits in executive functioning.
Fatigue, particularly emotional fatigue, insomnia, and poor sleep quality had the strongest associations with perceived deficits in executive functioning. Sleep interventions and fatigue management strategies may prove useful for women who seek to improve their perceived executive functioning.
在被诊断患有乳腺癌的女性中，认知功能障碍是许多困难之一。本研究评估了在接受系统治疗和放疗之前患有乳腺癌的女性中认知功能障碍的存在情况，以及认知功能障碍与合并的疲劳、睡眠和情绪障碍之间的关联。
在乳腺癌诊断后招募参与者，并使用成人行为评定量表（BRIEF-A）、睡眠持续时间和效率的主观和客观测量以及失眠严重程度、睡眠质量、疲劳和情绪障碍的自我报告测量进行评估。分层回归用于检查症状之间的关联，调整年龄和教育因素。
最终样本包括 92 名平均年龄为 60.7 岁、受教育程度为 13.5 年的女性。13%的参与者报告存在整体执行功能障碍。在从其他自变量中分离出变异性后，疲劳（p < .001）、感知睡眠质量（p = .030）和失眠症状（p = .008）分别解释了 13.3%、5.7%和 8.5%的感知执行功能的独特差异。情绪疲劳与感知执行功能障碍的相关性最强。主观或客观的睡眠持续时间或效率均与感知执行功能障碍无关。
疲劳，特别是情绪疲劳、失眠和睡眠质量差与感知执行功能障碍的关联最强。睡眠干预和疲劳管理策略可能对试图改善感知执行功能的女性有用。
