Our case-control study was conducted between 15 January 2022 and 15 June 2022 with patients diagnosed with breast cancer and undergoing chemotherapy at the Department of Oncology, Aydın Adnan Menderes University Faculty of Medicine Research and Application Hospital and their healthy peers who were not diagnosed with cancer. The study was approved by the Non-Interventional Ethics Committee of Aydın Adnan Menderes University Faculty of Health Sciences (E-15189967-050.04.04-118775).
In the G-Power power analysis performed according to the moderate physical activity score data from the study by Benton et al. investigating quality of life and physical activity levels in patients with breast cancer, it was determined that 27 individuals in each group and 54 individuals in total should be included to have 80% power with 95% confidence, assuming an effect size of f:0.78 [11].
Patients
In our study, patients diagnosed with breast cancer formed the study group (WG) and healthy peers formed the control group (CG). Patients who were diagnosed with cancer at least 3 months prior to the study and underwent chemotherapy treatment at Aydın Adnan Menderes University Faculty of Medicine Research and Application Hospital Oncology Department, had a Mini-Mental Test score of at least 24, had a life expectancy of more than 6 months, were aware of the diagnosis, were over 18 years old, were healthy peers, and had a score of at least 24 on the Mini-Mental Test, Healthy volunteers over the age of 18 who had not previously been diagnosed with or treated for cancer and who did not have a disease that would affect their cognitive function were included in the study. Patients with brain metastases, cognitive and psychiatric problems, patients with haematological cancers receiving palliative care, and volunteers with systemic diseases, chronic diseases, and problems that would prevent physical activity were not included in the study.
Participants who met the inclusion criteria for the research and control groups were asked to complete the questionnaires described below under the observation of the researcher. The questionnaire was administered in an assessment room where the participant could answer the questions comfortably.
Data collection and definitions
Demographic Information Form
The socio-demographic characteristics of the participants, such as age, height, weight, educational status, marital status, diagnosis, were recorded using the form developed by the researchers based on the literature.
Level of physical activity
The IPAQ long form was used to measure the amount of physical activity during the past 7 days. The 27-question questionnaire assesses in detail the amount of walking done in the past week and the amount of moderate to vigorous physical activity during work, transport, housework, gardening and leisure time activities.
Its validity and reliability in Turkey were assessed by Öztürk in 2005 [12]. Patients' level of physical activity is determined by at least 10 minutes of physical activity in the last 7 days.
Vigorous physical activity (VPA) is calculated by asking about activities such as weight lifting, aerobics, digging, football, fast cycling in minutes. Moderate physical activity (MVPA) is calculated in minutes for activities such as carrying light loads, folk games, dancing, table tennis or bowling. Walking and sitting for 1 day are also calculated in minutes.
The physical activity score is calculated by multiplying the participant's vigorous and moderate physical activity and walking times in the previous week by the number of minutes, days and MET-minute value appropriate for the physical activity performed (MET-minute/week) using the formulae below.
Standard MET values exist for these physical activities.
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Walking score (MET-min/hf) = 3.3
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Moderate activity score (MET-min/hf) = 4.0
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Heavy activity score (MET -min/hf) = 8.0
For example, the walking MET-min/week score for a person who walks 20 minutes 5 days a week is calculated as 3.3x20x5 = 330 MET-min/week. The total walking score is obtained by summing the walking scores in each domain. This provides continuous data. The total physical activity score (MET-min/hf) is obtained by summing the scores for walking, moderate activity and vigorous activity.
There are three levels of physical activity, namely 'inactive', 'minimally active' and 'very active (health-enhancing physical activity)'. The criteria for these levels are calculated by calculating the continuous scores mentioned above [12].
Quality of life
The EORTC-QLQ-C30 Quality of Life Scale, developed by the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC), whose content validity and reliability study was conducted by Beşer and Öz in cancer patients (Cronbach's alpha coefficient, r = 0.9014), was used to assess their quality of life [13]. The EORTC-QLQ-C30 Quality of Life Scale consists of 30 questions with three subscales: general well-being, functional difficulties and symptom control. The first 28 of the 30 items in the scale are four-point Likert scales, and the items are None: 1, Somewhat: 2, Somewhat: 3, or Very much: 4 points.
Question 29 of the scale asks the patient to rate their health on a scale of 1 to 7 (1 being very poor and 7 being excellent) and question 30 asks the patient to rate their general quality of life. Questions 29 and 30 are the questions that make up the general wellbeing domain. High scores in this section indicate a high quality of life, while low scores indicate a lower quality of life. In the functional domain and symptoms sections, low scores indicate high quality of life and high scores indicate low quality of life [13].
Cognitive level
The Montreal Cognitive Assessment Scale (MCAS), validated by Selekler et al, is used to assess cognitive function. This test, which takes an average of 10 minutes to complete, assesses various cognitive functions including attention and concentration, executive function, language, memory, visual structuring, abstract reasoning, calculation and orientation. The maximum score that can be achieved on the test is 30. Individuals scoring 21 and above are considered to have normal cognitive status [14].
Executive function is assessed with the sequential number and letter combination test (1 point) and verbal fluency (1 point). 31 The clock drawing test (3 points) and the three-dimensional cube copying test (1 point) assessed visual structuring skills, and the tests of naming animal pictures and repeating the same sentence in the same way assessed language skills. To assess memory functions, individuals were asked to read and repeat five words and the number of words that could be recalled after a delay of 5 minutes (5 points). To assess attention and concentration functions, participants were asked to count numbers forward and backward in sequence (1 point each), to subtract consecutively, and to identify the desired letter among different letters read (1 point). To assess abstract thinking skills, questions were asked about finding similarities between words (2 points) and time and place orientation (6 points) to assess orientation [14].