perceived attentional function and related factors in women following breast cancer surgery

Background: this study examined perceived cognitive function in patients withbreast cancer and determined the main predictors of changes in cognitive functionfollowing treatment.methods: the analytical cross-sectional study was performed in this study. 96 womenreceiving adjuvant treatment after surgery and who had already received adjuvanttreatment were included in the study. the convenience sample was selected from thelist of patients in cancer registry center, private clinics and the oncology ward of imamkhomeini hospital in ardabil, iran. we used the attentional function index to measureperceived cognitive function. spss version 16.0 was used to analyze the data. we usedthe t-test and analysis of variance to compare the differences in the attentional functionindex scores to demographic and medical characteristics.results: the mean attentional function index score was 59.53±1.69. there wasa statistically significant difference between the scores in terms of current non-surgicaltreatment (p < 0.000). regarding the time elapsed after disease diagnosis, the differencebetween the attentional function index scores was statistically significant (p < 0.00).conclusion: chemotherapy and hormone therapy can act as risk factors forcognitive impairment in patients with breast cancer.