The second part covered quality of life and was assessed selleck chemicals llc using the Short Form-36 (SF-36) [10]. The SF-36 assesses eight scales: physical function (PF), role limitations due to physical problems (role physical, RP), body pain (BP), general health (GH), vitality (VT), social function (SF), role limitations due to emotional problems (role emotional, RE), and mental health (MH). The raw scores of each subscale were converted to a range from 0 to 100: higher scores indicated better level of functioning or well-being. Both questionnaires had been previously used in breast cancer surgery research [4].2.3. Study ProceduresPatients included in this study received a telephone interview to make the oral consent to participate in our questionnaires research.

Informed consent was also requested for viewing the patients’ medical records on the phone. Then, SF-MPQ with minor modifications and SF-36 (both in Chinese version) were mailed to patients who agreed to take part in the survey, and they were asked to mail back the questionnaires after questions were answered carefully. Those patients who failed to respond within four weeks were contacted by telephone to find out why and, if necessary, mailed the questionnaire again. Eight weeks after sending the first questionnaires, the investigation was closed.2.4. Patient’s Medical Record CollectionPatients’ demographic and disease-related data were retrieved from the hospital and department database to identify possible risk factors contributing to chronic pain development. The data included age, BMI, presence of diabetes mellitus and hypertension, type of surgery, surgical complication (e.

g., wound infections, secondary hemorrhage, and hematomas), preoperative and postoperative adjuvant therapies that included radiation therapy, chemotherapy, and hormonal therapy.2.5. Statistical AnalysisData was analyzed using SPSS 16.0 software (SPSS, Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). Continuous variables were presented as mean �� standard deviations, and categorical data were shown as numbers and percentages. Comparison of continuous data was performed by Student’s t-test with normal distribution and by the Mann-Whitney U test for variables with nonnormal distribution. The Chi-square test was used to compare groups with categorical variables. P value less than 0.05 was considered significant.

Univariate analyses and multiple forward stepwise logistic regression analyses were performed to identify risk factors predicting PMPS. After univariate analyses, variables with P value less than 0.05 were included in a multivariate logistic regression analysis to identify independent factors of PMPS.3. Results3.1. Carfilzomib Sample Tracing Response Rate349 patients were contacted through the phone, and 97 patients refused to participate. Among all these 252 returned mails, 27 patients returned the questionnaire but did not fill in the part of the questionnaire concerning pain or quality of life and were excluded from the analysis.