Dr. de Ligt on Using Symptom Burden to Tailor Follow-Up Care in Breast Cancer Survivors

Kelly de Ligt, PhD, a postdoctoral researcher at the Netherlands Cancer Institute, discusses subgroups of symptom burden seen in breast cancer survivors.

The needs for breast cancer survivors are not currently being met, and there is a demand for more personalized follow-up care, de Ligt says. In research presented during the ESMO Breast Cancer Virtual Meeting 2021, which sought to identify subgroups of breast cancer survivors based on clusters of symptom burden in order to tailor follow-up care, investigators found 3 groups of breast cancer survivors with distinct levels of symptom burden, de Ligt explains.

The first subgroup was identified as having a low symptom burden compared with the general population, which was comprised of 1300 women from the Netherlands. The second subgroup had intermediate symptom burden that was comparable to the general population, although this group reported more severe symptoms, including fatigue and insomnia, de Ligt notes. The third subgroup consisted breast cancer survivors who had high symptom burden and more instances of severe coexisting symptoms, de Ligt concludes.