Psychosocial factors related to postmastectomy pain syndrome among women with breast cancer: Cross-sectional study

ABSTRACT

Background@#An insight on the association of psychosocial factors with postmastectomy pain syndrome (PMPS) can help in the holistic management of patients with PMPS. @*Objective@#To determine the proportion of patients with PMPS among those who underwent mastectomy for breast cancer and identify factors associated with the syndrome. @*Design@#Cross-sectional study. @*Setting@#Outpatient Unit in Southern Philippines Medical Center. @*Participants@#45 women who had mastectomy for breast cancer. @*Main outcome measures@#Proportion of patients with PMPS; prevalence odds ratios (POR) of having PMPS for selected factors. @*Main results@#The patients had a mean age of 53.18 ± 8.09 years, mean BMI of 23.57 ± 2.65, and--on average--were 27.09 ± 35.76 months postmastectomy upon entry into the study. Of the 45 patients, 22 (48.89%) had PMPS. Univariate POR of having PMPS were significantly high for patients who had distant metastasis (POR=5.56; 95% CI 1.27 to 24.29; p=0.0227), experienced premastectomy breast pain (POR=35.70; 95% CI 6.14 to 207.52; p<0.0001), were in late-stage family life cycle (POR=9.18; 95% CI 1.02 to 82.22; p=0.0476), and were in late-stage family illness trajectory (POR=4.96; 95% CI 1.39 to 17.70; p=0.0137). @*Conclusion@#In this study, 48.89% of patients had PMPS. Factors associated with PMPS include having distant metastases, having premastectomy breast pain, being in late-stage family life cycle, and being in late-stage family illness trajectory.