Changes in the severity of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting according to the menopausal stage of breast cancer patients during adjuvant chemotherapy: A prospective observational study

Abstract

Abstract Purpose Breast cancer has been reported to be common in middle-age, but little is known about the relationship between menopausal stage and the severity of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV) in breast cancer patients. Therefore, we examined the association between menopausal stage and CINV severity.Methods Participants were prospectively enrolled from a tertiary general hospital. We evaluated CINV severity of 187 breast cancer patients receiving adjuvant chemotherapy, using a Likert scale from 1 to 10, before chemotherapy (W0), 4 weeks after the first chemotherapy (W4), and 12 weeks (W12) after the first chemotherapy. Premenopause, perimenopause, and postmenopause period were classified by age 45 and 55 years, respectively. CINV severity at different time-points and change values in CINV severity (cCIN, cCIV) at each time point, relative to W0, were compared using a linear mixed modelResults Significant group-by-time interactions were observed for CIN (p = 0.011), CIV (p = 0.027), and cCIN (p = 0.030). In postmenopausal period women, unlike in premenopausal and perimenopausal period women, the mean change values for CIN and CIV at each time point relative to W0 were not significantly different. In the post-hoc analysis, there was a significant difference (p = 0.007) in cCIN at W4 between perimenopausal and postmenopausal period women.Conclusions Changes in CINV severity in breast cancer patients follow different patterns according to menopausal stage. Perimenopausal period women seem to be particularly susceptible to CINV. During chemotherapy, it is necessary to manage CINV with consideration of menopausal stage.