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. 2022 Jul 5;14(13):3281.
doi: 10.3390/cancers14133281.

Pre-Surgery Demographic, Clinical, and Symptom Characteristics Associated with Different Self-Reported Cognitive Processes in Patients with Breast Cancer

Yu-Yin Allemann-Su  1 , Marcus Vetter  2 , Helen Koechlin  3   4   5 , Steven M Paul  6 , Bruce A Cooper  6 , Kate Oppegaard  6 , Michelle Melisko  7 , Jon D Levine  7 , Yvette Conley  8 , Christine Miaskowski  6   7 , Maria C Katapodi  1
Affiliations

Pre-Surgery Demographic, Clinical, and Symptom Characteristics Associated with Different Self-Reported Cognitive Processes in Patients with Breast Cancer

Yu-Yin Allemann-Su et al. Cancers (Basel). .

Abstract

Cancer related cognitive impairment (CRCI) is a common and persistent symptom in breast cancer patients. The Attentional Function Index (AFI) is a self-report measure that assesses CRCI. AFI includes three subscales, namely effective action, attentional lapses, and interpersonal effectiveness, that are based on working memory, inhibitory control, and cognitive flexibility. Previously, we identified three classes of patients with distinct CRCI profiles using the AFI total scores. The purpose of this study was to expand our previous work using latent class growth analysis (LCGA), to identify distinct cognitive profiles for each of the AFI subscales in the same sample (i.e., 397 women who were assessed seven times from prior to through to 6 months following breast cancer surgery). For each subscale, parametric and non-parametric statistics were used to determine differences in demographic, clinical, and pre-surgical psychological and physical symptoms among the subgroups. Three-, four-, and two-classes were identified for the effective action, attentional lapses, and interpersonal effectiveness subscales, respectively. Across all three subscales, lower functional status, higher levels of anxiety, depression, fatigue, and sleep disturbance, and worse decrements in energy were associated with worse cognitive performance. These and other modifiable characteristics may be potential targets for personalized interventions for CRCI.

Keywords: breast cancer; cancer-related cognitive impairment; cognitive flexibility; inhibitory control; working memory.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Cognitive processes associated with executive functions (adapted from Diamond [4]).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Observed and estimated effective action latent classes from prior to through to 6 months after breast cancer surgery.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Observed and estimated attentional lapses latent classes from prior to through to 6 months after breast cancer surgery.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Observed and estimated interpersonal effectiveness latent classes from prior to through to 6 months after breast cancer surgery.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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