Optimism and coping: do they influence health outcomes in women with breast cancer? A systemic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Optimism, coping, and resilience may be independent predictors of anxiety, distress, depression, or health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in women with breast cancer. METHODS: Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-analysis (PRISMA) searches of PubMed, PsycINFO, and Google Scholar databases from January 1, 1990, to April 30, 2018, for articles (i.e., studies) determining the impact of optimism, coping, or resilience on anxiety, distress, depression, or HRQOL in women with breast cancer. Articles included only those that measured optimism by the life orientation test (LOT) or LOT-revised (R), coping by the COPE, brief (B)-COPE, or religious (R)-COPE, and resilience by the CD-Resilience Scale (CD-RIS). RESULTS: Forty-one out of 52 (79%) studies showed that optimism is a statistically significant predictor of study-specific aspects of anxiety, distress, depression, or HRQOL. In a meta-analysis focused on depression, optimism was a statistically significant predictor of depression. Coping style is a statistically significant predictor for study-specific aspects of anxiety, distress, depression, or HRQOL in 41/43 (95%) studies. The coping studies were too heterogeneous in their outcome variables to perform meta-analyses. There were too few studies (n = 6) on resilience to draw any conclusions. CONCLUSIONS: Despite many limitations of this literature, including the heterogeneity of study designs, differing sample sizes, across different countries, cultures, ethnicities, and races, most studies support that optimism and coping are predictors of anxiety, distress, depression, or HRQOL. Awareness of these psychological constructs and their potential impact on anxiety, depression, and HRQOL are a high priority.

Management of bone health in postmenopausal women on aromatase inhibitors (AIs): a single health care system experience.

INTRODUCTION: Aromatase inhibitors (AIs) are the preferred therapy for postmenopausal women with early-stage estrogen receptor-positive breast cancers. However, their use causes bone loss and increased risks of osteoporosis and fractures. METHODS: This is a retrospective review of all postmenopausal women with breast cancer diagnosed and treated with AI between 2010 and 2015. Of the 564 women identified, 319 were eligible. RESULTS: The median age at AI initiation was 65 years (range 51-85 years), and the median duration of AI therapy was 28 months (1-72 months). The median number of DEXA scans per woman was 1 (0-4), performed at a median frequency of 24 months (1-48 months). Recommendations for calcium and vitamin D were in 66 and 59% of women, respectively. There were 52 (16%) women who received antiresorptive treatments with bisphosphonates (69%), denosumab (25%), or both drugs (6%). Based on guideline recommendations from six societies, starting antiresorptive treatment was unnecessary in 15-54% of women. CONCLUSIONS: In this single health system experience, women start antiresorptive drugs that are unnecessary in 15-52%. These results highlight the nonuniformity in guideline recommendations, and this has implications for quality of care, cost-effectiveness, and value-of-care analyses for preventing fractures.