Worsening frailty and declining quality of life in older survivors of non-metastatic breast cancer.

Authors

Christina A Minami, Leah R Jager, Eliza H Lorentzen, Aladdin H Shadyab, Jessica L Krok-Schoen, Abu Taiyab Nazmus Saquib, Jennifer J King, Garnet L Anderson, Tari A King, Elizabeth A Mittendorf

Published in

Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Jul 03, 2026. Epub Jul 03, 2026.

Abstract

Breast cancer treatment can worsen frailty, but the impact of this decline on long-term quality of life (QoL) remains uncertain. We identified women ≥65 years old with non-metastatic breast cancer from the Life and Longevity after Cancer survivorship cohort of the Women's Health Initiative. We examined the association between clinically-significant worsening of frailty, measured by a validated claims-based index one year post-diagnosis, and long-term decline in QoL, assessed on a ten-point scale 4 to 6 years post-diagnosis. Among 1,061 eligible patients, 692 (65.2%) were robust (not living with frailty), 343 (32.3%) were living with pre-frailty, and 26 (2.5%) were living with frailty at cancer diagnosis. Clinically-significant worsening of frailty occurred in 19.5% of patients. In fully adjusted models, worsening frailty was significantly associated with long-term QoL declines (Odds Ratio 1.48; 95% Confidence Interval [1.07 to 2.04]). These findings highlight the need for interventions to prevent worsening frailty during breast cancer treatment.

PMID:
42402217
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 06 Jul 2026.

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