Mexican American Women and Breast Cancer-Comorbidities, Symptom Frequency, Symptom Distress, Symptom Management, and Social Support

Abstract

This descriptive secondary data analysis examined the influence of comorbidity on medication use, symptom frequency, symptom distress, symptom management, social support and social network among Mexican American (MA) women with breast cancer. The total sample included 149 participants. The mean age of the sample was 50.49 years old—young compared to the U.S. national average age at breast cancer diagnosis of 62 years old. Nearly half of the women reported no comorbidities (n = 71), and n = 78 reported one or more comorbidities. Significant between groups differences showed that the comorbidity group was approximately 10 years older than the no comorbidity group, used more medications, and had twice the social network than the younger no comorbidity group. While the comorbidity group did report more symptom distress than the no comorbidity group, in both groups, the majority of participants reported moderate to high levels of symptom distress. Likewise, there was a small, significant between groups difference for symptom frequency. In both groups, over half of the participants reported having 3-7 symptoms. Correlations between variables showed a relationship between increased symptom frequency and decreased symptom management, and a relationship between higher symptom distress and lower symptom management. Emotional social support showed a positive influence on symptom frequency and symptom distress, providing evidence that social support is beneficial in improving breast cancer outcomes. Additional findings include evidence that low socioeconomic status (SES) contributes to cancer health disparities. The overall similarity between the groups suggests that the effects of comorbidity may not have as much influence as would be expected, and SES and other social and contextual factors may have an effect of equalizing the groups for some variables measured in this study.