Quality of life in Arab women with breast cancer: a review of the literature

BACKGROUND: Quality of life has become an important concept in cancer care. Among the quality of lifestudies in cancer patients, breast cancer has received most attention. This review reports on quality of life in Arab patients with breast cancer. METHODS: The search was conducted using inclusion and exclusion criteria and in accordance with Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA). The databases consulted were PubMed, Sciences Direct, Index Medicus for Wordl Health Organization Eastern Mediterranean, African Journals Online and African Index Medicus. RESULTS: Thirteen articles from eight countries met the inclusion criteria. The EORTC quality of life questionnaires (QLQ-C30 and QLQ-BR23) were the most used instrument (7 out of 13). The results showed that good scores of global health were recorded at Arab women living in United Arab Emirates (mean score = 74.6) compared to other countries. The results indicated that there was a difference in quality of life scores and its associated factors among Arab women with breast cancer. CONCLUSION: This paper is the first that reviewed published research on quality of life among Arab women with breast cancer. We found that insufficient results-related information is available. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12955-016-0468-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.