Health-related quality of life and patient-centred outcomes with COVID-19 vaccination in patients with breast cancer and gynaecological malignancies

Marie Forster; Rachel Wuerstlein; Alexander Koenig; Alexandra Stefan; Elisa Wiegershausen; Falk Batz; Fabian Trillsch; Sven Mahner; Nadia Harbeck; Anca Chelariu-Raicu

doi:10.3389/fonc.2023.1217805

Health-related quality of life and patient-centred outcomes with COVID-19 vaccination in patients with breast cancer and gynaecological malignancies

Front Oncol. 2023 Oct 12:13:1217805. doi: 10.3389/fonc.2023.1217805. eCollection 2023.

Affiliation

¹ Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Breast Center, Gynecologic Oncology Center and CCC Munich, University Hospital, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany.

Abstract

Introduction: Safety and tolerability of COVID-19 vaccines were demonstrated by several clinical trials which led to the first FDA/EMA approvals in 2021. Because of mass immunizations, most social restrictions were waived with effects on quality of life. Therefore, our a-priori hypothesis was that COVID-19 vaccination impacted the health-related quality of life (HR-QoL) in patients with breast and gynecological cancer.

Methods: From March 15^th until August 11^th, 2022, fully vaccinated patients with breast and gynecological cancer treated in the oncological outpatient clinics of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, LMU University Hospital, Munich, Germany filled out a vaccine related QoL survey. Patients were asked about demographics (age, comorbidities), clinical parameters related to previous COVID-19 infections, and HR-QoL related parameters (living situation, responsibilities in everyday life). Subsequently, a questionnaire with 12 items was designed using a 5-point Likert scale (0 - strongly disagree/4 - strongly agree), covering the aspects health and therapy, social environment, participation in everyday life and overall assessment.

Results: By August 11^th, 2022, 108 out of 114 (94.7%) patients had received at least three doses of COVID-19 vaccine and six patients at least two doses. More than half of the surveyed patients were >55y (52.6%; mean: 55.1y, range 29-86y). Patients with breast cancer (n= 83) had early (59.0%) or metastatic cancer (41.0%); gynecological cancers (n=31) also included metastatic (54.8%) and non-metastatic cancer (45.2%). 83.3% of the patients stated that COVID-19 vaccination had a positive impact on their HR-QoL. Furthermore, 29 patients (25.4%) had undergone a COVID-19 infection. These patients reported self-limiting symptoms for a median duration of 5.9 days and no hospital admissions were registered.

Conclusions: Our study demonstrates that vaccination against COVID-19 was positively associated with HR-QoL in patients with breast and gynecological cancer. Furthermore, vaccinated patients who underwent COVID-19 disease experienced only self-limiting symptoms.

Keywords: COVID-19 vaccination; SARS-CoV-2 pandemic; breast cancer; gynecological cancer; health-related quality of life.