Assessment Of Sleep Quality Among Patients With Cancer – A Pilot Study

Abstract

Breast cancer is the most prevailing form of cancer. Breast cancer has become a major
problem across the world including India. Carcinoma of the breast is characterized by
uncontrolled growth of cells, which results in formation of lumps within the breast. It is
treatable if it is detected early, if not, it could be a serious life-threatening disease. The main
objective of this study was to determine the risk factors among patients with breast cancer.
Retrospective study design was used; data was collected from the patients who were diagnosed
to have breast cancer. 42 samples were selected for the study by convenient sampling
technique. The present study results showed 50% of patients were between 41 to 50 years of
age, 28.5% and 35.7% of patients were under the category of obese and overweight, 14.3%
and 7.1% of patients were having polycystic ovary and ovarian cancer respectively. 33.3% of
patients were having the comorbid illness of hypertension and 28.5% were diabetes mellitus.
In relation to reproductive status, 57.1% of patients had attained menarche at the age of less
than 12 years and 66.6% of patients had regular menstrual cycle and 35.7% had less than 5
days of menstrual periods. 38.1% and 19% of patients had used oral contraceptive pills and
diethyl stilbesterol medication, respectively. There is a need to evaluate breast cancer patients
and initiate screening programmes among the women and also should insist about the healthy
living practices, importance of breast feeding, and ill-effects of using oral contraceptives to the
women in order to prevent the occurrence of breast cancer.