This application is in response to the Notice of Special Interest (NOSI) identified as NOT-OD-20-097 titled ?Administrative Supplement for Research on the 2019 Novel Corona Virus and the Behavioral and Social Sciences.? The purpose of this proposal is to add new variables and another year of data collection to investigate the effect of COVID-19 on the symptom trajectory experienced by women with breast cancer in their first two years of survivorship, and to identify those women at highest risk for increased symptom burden. The current longitudinal study focused on the underpinnings of treatment induced nausea and vomiting, but also the contribution of individual and co-occurring symptoms including pain, pain interference, sleep disturbance, fatigue, anxiety, depressive symptoms, physical function, and ability to participate in social roles and activities. The current study includes collection of these measures on a monthly basis prior to and during the emergence of COVID-19 for 248 women with breast cancer (with over 100 women over the age of 65 years, making them a particularly vulnerable group). The planned trajectory analysis of the current study would be invalid if COVID-19 was not included as a variable. In addition to adding the emergence of COVID-19 to the trajectory analysis, the proposed study will add potential mediators of COVID-19, such as county of residence in the tri-state area of Western Pennsylvania, resiliency, living arrangements and job or income loss because of COVID-19. County of residence is important, as the incidence of COVID-19 in the rural counties was lower and thus the state mandated restrictions were different. In addition, study participants who lived alone, and who lost their jobs or family income would be affected differently. Resiliency, the ability to bounce back or adapt when changes occur, may also influence the impact of COVID-19 on symptoms reported. This supplement, which is within the scope of the parent award, will strengthen our currently funded aims by use of real-time longitudinal data to inform key social and behavioral questions related to the COVID-19 pandemic in a vulnerable population, mostly older women treated for breast cancer.
There is an urgent need to rapidly improve our understanding of the critical social and behavioral changes brought upon by the COVID-19 pandemic and to measure these changes among vulnerable populations. In addition, very little is known about how risk and resiliency factors influence the response to COVID-19. This supplement to our ongoing project that is focused on the trajectory of treatment-induced symptoms experienced by women with breast cancer will examine these changes, and the influence of resiliency and other potential factors (county of residency, income loss, living arrangements) on the impact of COVID-19.
