Adherence to Guidelines for Cancer Survivors and Health-Related Quality of Life among Korean Breast Cancer Survivors

There is limited evidence on the association between adherence to guidelines for cancer survivors and health-related quality of life (HRQoL). In a cross-sectional study of Korean breast cancer survivors, we examined whether adherence to the guidelines of the American Cancer Society (ACS) and World Cancer Research Fund/American Institute for Cancer Research (WCRF/AICR) for cancer survivors was related to levels of HRQoL, assessed by the Korean version of Core 30 (C30) and Breast cancer module 23 (BR23) of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer-Quality of Life Questionnaire (EORTC-QLQ). We included a total of 160 women aged 21 to 79 years who had been diagnosed with breast cancer according to American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) stages I to III and had breast cancer surgery at least six months before the interview. Increasing adherence to ACS guidelines was associated with higher scores of social functioning (p for trend = 0.05), whereas increasing adherence to WCRF/AICR recommendations was associated with higher scores of arm symptoms (p for trend = 0.01). These associations were limited to those with stage II or III cancer. Diet may be an important factor in relation to quality of life among Korean breast cancer survivors, however our findings warrant further prospective studies to evaluate whether healthy diet improves survivors’ quality of life.